One of the most intrigueing ties of the sixth round draw threw together near neighbours Leigh Centurions and the Salford Red Devils for a game at the Leigh Sports Village as one of the top sides in the Championship went head to head with a side still looking for Super League consistency.
Eight league places separated the two sides but Salford came into the game in the full knowledge that there was plenty of Super League experience in the Centurions side and that the home crowd would be baying for the blood of their rivals from ten miles down the A580.
The bookies fancied an away win but not by much and the cameras of SKY were there to witness the unfolding excitement with Leigh hoping to extend their nine match winning run.
It took just eighty seconds for Niall Evalds to open the scoring for the Red Devils running the angle to dive over. Jake Shorrocks was unable to add the conversion from wide.
The second Salford try came on twelve when George Griffin hit a ball at speed to step out of an ankle tackle and go over the line to score. Shorrocks managed to kick the extras to extend the lead to 10-0.
Leigh hit back on sixteen when Ben Reynolds went over under the uprights after taking a Peter Mata’utia pass ten metres out from the line. Reynolds added the extras and the margin was back down to four.
Harrison Hansen levelled the scores on nineteen when he dragged Salford tacklers over the line with him and used his strength to ground over the line. When Reynolds added the extras it was the Centurions who had the lead.
Leigh did well to repel the Red Devils for the remaining twenty of the half and held on to the interval with a slender two point lead.
After going close on forty-seven the Centurions extended their lead a minute later when Daniel Mortimer used great strength to burrow under the Red Devils defence to ground on the line. As Reynolds extended the lead to 18-10 you could see the belief running through the Leigh players, and draining from those wearing Salford kit.
As Salford tried to force the game the errors started to creep in, and Leigh had the scent of a minor upset in their nostrils.
Drew Hutchison sealed the Centurions victory when they opted to go for the try rather than take a single pointer. The Leigh scrum-half spun off two lacklustre Salford tackles to ground. Reynolds smacked his conversion attempt into the near post but with a twelve point lead and just two minutes left the game was all over.
Salford were cruising in the opening minutes and sprinted to a 10-0 lead after just twelve minutes. But as soon as Leigh woke up and kicked into their game plan they dominated scoring twenty-two unanswered points to elimiate the Super League side and progress into the quarter finals where they will be anticipating another big scalp.
Centurions: Mata’utia, Dawson-Jones, Crooks, Hall, Owens, Reynolds (T, 3G), Hutchison (T), Bailey, Higham, Acton, Hansen (T), Thompson B, Thompson J. Subs: Mortimer (T), Larroyer, Richards, Dezaria.
Red Devils: Evalds (T), Olpherts, Welham, Sa’u, Johnson, Shorrocks (G), Littlejohn, Nakubuwai, Tomkins, Mossop, Hauraki, Griffin (T), Flanagan. Subs: Kopczak, Tasi, McCarthy, Wood.
Referee: Liam Moore.
Half-Time: 12-10.
Full-Time: 22-10.
Attendance: .
