YORK KNIGHTS 6 LEIGH LEOPARDS 18
DAVE CRAVEN, LNER Community Stadium, Friday

A GRITTY and crucial spell of scrambling defence laid the platform for Leigh to grab only their third Super League win of the season.

Adrian Lam’s side, protecting a narrow 8-6 interval lead at fellow strugglers York, were under the cosh at the start of the second half.

But they dug deep time after time to hold out Mark Applegarth’s profligate outfit and eventually pulled clear courtesy of a brilliant Josh Charnley try and another effort from Jacob Alick-Wiencke.

Promoted York, who remain stuck on just two Super League victories and are injury-ravaged like their opponents, will rue their wasted chances.

Sam Wood made a storming run down the middle at the start of the second half but, once more, his side were sloppy, losing possession at the vital moment with Leigh on the ropes.

Soon after, Kieran Buchanan broke down the left and linked with Ata Hingano before being nailed just short.

In the same set, Charnley came in from his wing with a crucial tackle on Jesse Dee as desperate Leigh scrambled for their lives.

It was terrific defence and their resilience continued after the hosts made another long-range break that ended with another error, York crumbling under the Leopards’ pressure.

Leigh almost scored against the run of play, York this time having to scramble to deny ex-Knights wideman AJ Towse in the corner.

They did get things right, though, with some truly sublime handling across the pitch to get Charnley in at the other side on 57 minutes.

Lachlan Lam’s superb 40/20 heaped more pressure on York, leading to Alick-Wiencke crashing over off Adam Cook’s pass in the 67th minute.

Cook converted from wide out and suddenly the game was gone for the hosts.

York did win back a short restart and saw Paul Vaughan plunder over only for the video referee to rule it out.

It was a fifth successive league loss for Knights who haven’t won in this competition since February.

They gave a debut to Aussie halfback Cody Hunter, who has scored eleven tries in as many games for partner club Newcastle Thunder since joining from the Queensland Cup this term.

He produced some fine kicking and dovetailed well with Hingano at times, while loose-forward Ben Littlewood also debuted having come in on loan from Leeds.

Leigh, already missing a raft of talent, saw England prop Robbie Mulhern pull out during the warm-up, prompting a call-up of 18th man Ryan Brown to the bench and Alick-Wiencke being promoted to the starting side.

Leopards’ Gareth O’Brien slickly dummied over for the night’s first try on 15 minutes, Cook slotting the first of his three goals.

Lam thought he was over soon after but his effort was chalked off for an offside.

Instead, Xavier Va’a bundled over from Paul McShane’s pass for York on 22 minutes, Myles Harrison improving.

But Va’a, the forceful prop who has impressed for the Knights this term, was sin-binned for a late hit on O’Brien six minutes later.

Cook’s resultant penalty saw Leigh go ahead – and they never looked back.

GAMESTAR: Plenty of big performers for Leigh but Isaac Liu set the lead early on and kept on going.

GAMEBREAKER: Given the way York were wasting chances, once Josh Charnley’s try put Leigh 18-6 up, you feared for the hosts.

HIGHLIGHT REEL: Josh Charnley’s try was a beauty, with some superb, swift handling through countless hands left to right to get the ex-England winger over.

ALBERT GOLDTHORPE POINTS
3 pts Isaac Liu (Leigh)
2 pts Frankie Halton (Leigh)
1 pt Kieran Buchanan (York)

MATCHFACTS

KNIGHTS
46 David Nofoaluma
5 Scott Galeano
4 Sam Wood
21 Kieran Buchanan
35 Myles Harrison
6 Ata Hingano
37 Cody Hunter (D)
8 Jack Martin
9 Paul McShane
10 Paul Vaughan
20 Oli Field
12 Jesse Dee
17 Ben Littlewood (D)
Subs (all used)
11 Josh Griffin
14 Denive Balmforth
15 Xavier Va’a
29 Sam Cook
18th man (not used)
16 Justin Sangaré
Also in 20-man squad
17 Kieran Hudson
23 Jon Bennison

Tries: Va’a (22)
Goals: Harrison 1/1
Sin bin: Va’a (28) – late tackle

LEOPARDS
21 Gareth O’Brien
20 AJ Towse
19 Innes Senior
22 Jack Hughes
5 Josh Charnley
6 Adam Cook
7 Lachlan Lam
8 Joe Ofahengaue
9 Edwin Ipape
15 Jacob Alick-Wiencke
11 Frankie Halton
12 Owen Trout
13 Isaac Liu
Subs (all used)
17 Liam Horne
24 Ben McNamara
25 Louis Brogan
28 Ryan Brown
Also in 19-man squad
10 Robbie Mulhern
16 Matt Davis

Tries: O’Brien (15), Charnley (57), Alick-Wiencke (67)
Goals: Cook 3/4

SCORING SEQUENCE: 0-6, 6-6, 6-8; 6-12, 6-18

Rugby Leaguer & League Express Men of the Match
Knights: Kieran Buchanan; Leopards: Isaac Liu

Penalty count: 3-7
Half-time: 6-8
Referee: Tara Jones