Leigh 20 Carlisle 27

STAND-IN coach Allan Rowley didn't mince his words as off-key Leigh handed Carlisle a first-ever Hilton Park league victory on a plate.

Rowley, Leigh's Football Director deputising for Eric Hughes (his sister has suffered a heart attack) , ripped into the players after Sunday's 12-0 lead had been frittered away.

"Totally unprofessional," was Rowley's summing up. "At 12-0 we had the match in our grasp and really should have finished them off.

"Too many our our players weren't prepared to put their bodies on the line; our kicking game was appalling and the defence static.

"When Eric gets back and sees the video of this, he'll have kittens!"

Few players escaped Rowley's criticism. Two that did hardly deserved to pick up losing pay.

Young winger Barry Burgess, recalled for the first time since Easter, swooped for a stunning hat-trick of tries to give him the unenviable distinction of becoming one of the few Leigh players to have scored three tries and still finish on the losing side.

The other exception was David Hill who stepped into the full-back breach left by the injured David Lyon.

Hill, comfortably Leigh's longest-serving player, was faultless in defence and a willing link in attack. Had he not made four one-on-one tackles against runaway Carlisle attackers, the Cumbrians would have neared 50 points let alone 27.

Two early Burgess tries should have been Leigh's winning platform.

The first came when Shaun Brown's cross-kick took a wicked bounce and Burgess was able to pounce from close range.

The second was a solo 80 metres effort which saw him burst up the middle and finish in the right corner.

But that was as good as it got. By half time Carlisle had squared the match at 12-12 with converted tries by Jason Charlton and Stuart Rhodes.

Andy Cheetham regained the lead for Leigh when he collected Alan Mason's pass and picked his way through the Carlisle defence but then Rhodes collected his second try and Matt Lynch sped 70 metres for another as Carlisle opened up a 22-16 lead.

Burgess collected his third when he took on all-comers to fly 50 metres to the corner to restore some hope.

But then Barry Williams went in from close range and a drop goal from Tane Manihera wrapped it up.

LEIGH: Hill; Burgess, Hadcroft, Cheetham, Purtill; Ingram (Mason 33), Brown; Street, Quigley (O'Loughlin 73), Perigo (Costello HT), Cain (Conway 64), Ball, Daniel. Attendance:1005.

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