A FRUSTRATED John Duffy said work will continue in a bid to solve Leigh Centurions’ second-half issues.

His side have fallen away after half time in a number of games recently, the latest being at Hull Kingston Rovers on Sunday.

Leigh trailed 12-0 early on but levelled matters before turning around 18-12 behind, only to concede four tries after 30 minutes of deadlock.

Duffy’s men, still looking for a first Super League win this season, eventually lost 40-16 with back rower Ben Hellewell crossing for two tries.

“We were a bit scrappy in the first half but we got ourselves into it,” said Duffy.

“We had a good chat at half time and we were really positive going into the second half.

“But the same happens again. We were in good positions but individual errors and penalties cost us at crucial times of the game. And you just can’t do it at this level.”

There was some mitigation to Leigh conceding 40 points or more for the fourth time in eight outings.

“We’ve done it tough for the last couple of days. Brendan Elliot just got his Covid test back today. He was fine but we’d been waiting on that. And we had a couple of other issues as well. So it’s not the best preparation. We’ve got some senior boys missing as well.

“But we were right in the game at half time and I really thought we would back that up in the second half. But same things again as there has been the past few weeks.

“I feel for the players. I’ve been there as a player and it’s all about the players, it’s not about me. They’re doing it really tough at the minute. It is stressful for the rest of the staff but everything’s about the players for me and I just feel for them.

“I just think we are where we are. The same things have happened in the second half the last few weeks. It’s something that we’re working on and something that we 100 per cent need to keep working on and get better at.

“But we’re never going to let ourselves continue for big parts of the second half if we’re going to individually error and give up possession in key areas of the field, so we’ve got to learn sharpish.”

He hailed the work of his captain Liam Hood in difficult circumstances.

“Liam played 80 minutes and his hand up as captain. It’s a big shift for him. I just thought although the errors and the scoreline, we only had 16 training yesterday so we’ve done it tough. That’s the only positive but we need to learn and learn quick.”