LEIGH are disappointed this morning NOT to be outright leaders of the Northern Ford Premiership.

But, following Monday's thrilling 26-20 win at Oldham, fourth spot will do very nicely thank you.

Last year it took Leigh 30 games to amass 12 points. This time around they've done it in eight!

The win at Spotland, however, may have come at a heavy price.

Skipper Craig Dean's dodgy ankle looked definitely dodgier as he was carried off 16 minutes into the second half.

The scrum-half will be sent for urgent medical checks to assess the full extent of the damage.

But coach Ian Millward is not optimistic. "It's doesn't look good," he said.

"Craig heard a crack in the ankle when he went into a tackle, and, although the lad doesn't feel it's the old injury, we must wait and see."

If that wasn't enough joint leading try-scorer Dave Ingram limped off in the first half with a pulled calf muscle and full-back Stuart Donlan finished the game limping heavily because of a hamstring strain.

With Andy Fairclough and Phil Kendrick out with leg injuries, Millward will find his resources stretched for Sunday's visit to Lancashire Lynx.

It's not hard to see, with so many disruptions, why Leigh's performance was disjointed. They have played better this season and lost.

But the pleasing feature was the character of the side shone brightly through, especially after they had surrendered a 14-4 interval lead to trail 16-14.

"We were a bit sloppy just after half-time and let them in twice, but I was always confident the boys would have the guts to turn it round," added Millward.

In a whirlwind start Ingram swooped for his ninth try of the season after a damaging run by Paul Norman.

Then Paul Wingfield won back possession and the mighty Tim Street bulldozed his way over at the corner; the power prop quickly grabbed a second under the posts after magical approach work by Dean.

But Oldham hit back with a vengeance to go ahead.

Street was in no mood, however, to let his hometown team grab the points. He stirred his side into action and saw them clinch the win with two crucial tries in eight minutes from Anthony Murray and Radney Bowker.

LEIGH: Donlan; Wingfield, Ingram, Purtill K, Arkwright; Patel, Dean; Street, Murray, Whittle, Kennedy, Norman, Bowker. Subs (all used): Cruickshank, Liku, Lewis, Pucill. Attendance: 2,163.

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.