LEIGH Centurions chairman Mick Higgins is ready to take Karl Kirkpatrick's handling of Sunday's Challenge Cup tie against Sheffield Eagles right to the top.

Furious Higgins intends to highlight the Warrington whistler's errors when he attends Thursday's Disciplinary Panel meeting with Centurions skipper Tim Street.

Prop Street, who was sent off for alleged use of the elbow, plans a personal appearance and will plead not guilty.

Higgins has revealed that the Leigh club's marks of the referee's performance was only 13 out of 50 - one of the lowest the Hilton Park club has ever submitted. "We feel those marks are fully justified and shows just what we thought of his performance. The number of errors of judgement he made were just not acceptable," Higgins complains.

"Referees are supposed to be completely impartial. I would hope that Mr Kirkpatrick doesn't hold any grudge after we reported him to the League for similar reasons after a game at Barrow two years ago.

"I will certainly be raising some interesting points when I speak to the Disciplinary Panel on Tim's behalf on Thursday.

"If we'd have been given a fair crack, the scoreline would have been a truer reflection of the game. We competed well enough for over half the game but when you're down to 11 men against a Super League side, the strain's going to tell."

Meanwhile, Leigh have new shirt sponsors. Local firm Leighton Packaging have replaced Asda whose three-year deal is now complete.

The managing director of Leighton Packaging is long-time Leigh fan Phil Coffey. The strip will be available in mid-March.

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