Batley Bulldogs 11, Leigh Centurions 22 FOR the best part of an hour Leigh looked to be heading for a shock defeat. But like a true champion team they pulled themselves together and ran away with the game in the final quarter.

Three tries in the final 20 minutes saw Leigh turn a 10-0 deficit into an 11-point winning margin.

But if they are going to make another serious NFP challenge this season, they are going to have to smarten up their act.

Leigh's first 40 minutes was littered with a catalogue of handling errors that played right into the hands of an enthusiastic Batley side.

"Our completion rate in the first half was less than 40 per cent while they had something like 90. With stats like that, we were bound to struggle," said Leigh coach Paul Terzis.

"I was relieved to be only 10-4 down at half time. I knew that if we controlled the ball in the second half we would score points. And so it proved."

Leigh were their own worst enemies early on, repeatedly forced to drop out from behind their own line and unable to make much headway at the other end.

Batley had their tails up and roared into a 10-0 lead through tries from Glen Tomlinson and Danny Maun with Jeremy Dyson adding one conversion.

Leigh gave themselves a toe-hold on the game right on the stroke of half time when Simon Baldwin chipped over the defensive wall and Neil Turley won the race for a touchdown but made a hash of the conversion attempt.

With the benefit of the considerable slope in the second half, the Bulldogs must had fancied their chances, especially when scrum-half Dean Lawford knocked over a field goal to make it 11-6 after Turley had landed a penalty.

Leigh were still behind as the game went into the final quarter and freezing fog began to close in but when Jon Roper was switched from centre to stand-off, things began to happen.

Leigh's more expansive game suddenly clicked into place. Roper sent sub Rob Ball rampaging up the middle, turning a pass inside for Paul Norman to finish under the posts. Turley's conversion put Leigh in front for the first time.

Within minutes they had increased their advantage when Willie Swann's clever footwork drew the defence inside before firing out a long ball for winger Dave Ingram to get in at the corner.

Two minutes from time ace try poacher Turley spotted Batley full-back Dyson fractionally out of position, kicked ahead and touched down for his third try in two games.