Leigh Centurions 49

Prescot Panthers 12 By MIKE HULME NO-ONE will pretend that Leigh had suddenly found the answers to all their problems with this first victory of the season being greeted with relief rather than complete satisfaction.

Anything has to be better than four false starts and perhaps at last they've got the show on the road.

There was much to give coach Ian Lucas satisfaction. Wigan St Pat's recruit Dean Purtill collected a 20 points haul in his second game after returning to the professional game and on loan scrum-half Jonathan Quigley gave another busy display.

There were touches of genuine class from Jimmy Veikoso and a towering game in the second row from two-try Paul Daniel.

But it was the blossoming form of Kiwi stand-off Alan Mason that must give Leigh most pleasure.

A miserable start to his Leigh career made Mason unsettled but yesterday he started to show the touches of brilliance that persuaded Leigh to sign him in the first place. His defence might not be up to scratch just yet but with the ball in his hands he has the quality to open up the tightest of defences. Four of Leigh's eight tries had Mason as the central character.

Mason ghosted through from 15 metres to give Leigh a 6-0 lead inside the first four minutes and although they didn't score again until the 21st minute, Leigh never looked in much trouble.

The second try came thanks to some clever touchline play by Veikoso and finished well by Daniel.

Although Sean Fanning pulled a couple of points back for the Panthers, they were never really in the hunt. Before half time Quigley, Mason and Bannister all had tries disallowed while Daniel and Purtill scored legitimate touchdowns to make it 22-2.

Mason and Veikoso mezmerised Prescot to get Purtill over while Daniel gave a pretty fair impersonation of Peter Schmeichel as he lept high to take Mason's horribly misdirected drop goal attempt.

Quigley was rewarded for his energetic support play with a try straight after half time before Mason and Mark Sarsfield linked to send Bannister walking in for an eight-point try. Tau Liku marked his comeback with a typically forceful score off Bannister's reverse pass and on the hour Alan Hadcroft finished off another crisp Leigh move in the corner.

Lucas will be disappointed with Leigh's effort in the last quarter with the only additions to their score coming from Purtill's eighth goal and a Mason drop goal.

Leigh dropped their guard and got hit by two sucker punches. Alan England shot clean through from a scrum and Mike Deakin scored from a tap penalty.

LEIGH: O'Loughlin; Hill (Sarsfield 40), Hadcroft, Veikoso, Purtill; Mason, Quigley; Cain (Hill 56), Bannister (Ingram 61), Daniel, Ball (Fletcher HT), Lyon (Liku 21). Attendance: 1,124.

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