LEIGH LEOPARDS 22 YORK KNIGHTS 14
DAVE PARKINSON, Progress With Unity Stadium, Friday

LEIGH gave their play-off hopes a huge boost with a hard-fought win over York Knights, for whom Jon Bennison’s 14-point haul proved in vain.

Having fought back to lead 12-10 at half-time, second-half tries from Andrew Badrock and David Armstrong proved enough for the Leopards to hold off a valiant Knights to return to winning ways.

Leigh had handed York a club record 100-4 defeat on their last league visit back in 2022, but found their opponents much more resilient this time around.

After squandering early position, an Adam Cook forward pass opened the door for York to post their first points on six minutes.

Ata Hingano broke through the line on the left, and although Armstrong recovered well to haul him down, Nikau Williams caught out the home defence with a neat short-side shift to send Bennison over out wide. The winger superbly converted from the touchline for a 6-0 advantage.

But when the Knights fluffed the restart kick, and then gave away a repeat set, Leigh hit back when  Umyla Hanley unselfishly set up Josh Charnley to dive in at the corner. Cook couldn’t convert.

York could not capitalise on a couple of promising sets inside the Leigh half before a loose Williams offload saw them sloppily concede a drop out.

Though Cook turned the screw with another clever kick, Leigh turned the ball over and the visitors struck from deep to get themselves out of trouble, led by some excellent running from Scott Galeano.

However, the Leopards soon grabbed their second try, Liam Horne’s neat dummy-half switch sending Joe Ofahengaue powering over next to the posts, handing Cook a simple conversion.

And after a Lam bomb was spilled by Galeano, Paul McShane conceded a penalty after touching the ball in an offside position, with Cook making no mistake from the tee to stretch the home advantage to 12-6 just before the half-hour mark.

York responded positively, with a looping pass over the top from Cody Hunter finding Bennison for his second try, but the hosts went in at half-time with a narrow 12-10 advantage.

The Knights could be commended for their tryline defence in a second half in which they found both possession and territory hard to come by.

However, the pressure of consecutive drop-outs soon told. Nikau Williams snaked high with a challenge and York couldn’t hang on when Lam’s dummy unlocked the defence for Badrock to resume the scoring in the 48th minute.

And with Leigh continuing to dominate, Toa Mata’afa came up with a superb tackle to deny Ofahengaue.

The Leopards did find another way through York’s defence with 16 minutes remaining when Lam’s bursting run set up Armstrong to go under the posts and Cook goaled to make it 22-10.

York though had the final word, working a classic scrum play down the left edge, Williams sending Bennison flying into the corner for his hat-trick try.

GAMESTAR: Lachlan Lam proved a thorn in York’s side with his running and kicking game tormenting them throughout.

GAMEBREAKER: David Armstrong’s 64th-minute try gave Leigh just enough breathing space to withstand Jon Bennison’s late try.

HIGHLIGHT REEL: Jon Bennison’s flying finish to complete his hat-trick.

ALBERT GOLDTHORPE POINTS
3 pts Lachlan Lam (Leigh Leopards)
2 pts Joe Ofahengaue (Leigh Leopards)
1 pt Jon Bennison (York Knights)

MATCHFACTS

LEOPARDS
1 David Armstrong
19 Innes Senior
23 Andrew Badrock
4 Umyla Hanley
5 Josh Charnley
6 Adam Cook
7 Lachlan Lam
8 Joe Ofahengaue
17 Liam Horne
10 Robbie Mulhern
12 Owen Trout
15 Jacob Alick-Wiencke
25 Louis Brogan
Subs (all used)
9 Edwin Ipape
13 Isaac Liu
16 Matt Davis
21 Gareth O’Brien
18th man (not used)
24 Ben McNamara
Also in 21 Player Squad
22 Jack Hughes
28 Ryan Brown
29 Will Brough

Tries: Charnley (9), Ofahengaue (24), Badrock (48), Armstrong (64)
Goals: Cook 3/5

KNIGHTS
  1 Toa Mata’afa
5 Scott Galeano
4 Sam Wood
26 Nikau Williams
23 Jon Bennison
36 Cody Hunter
9 Paul McShane
8 Jack Martin
48 Tom Inman
15 Xavier Va’a
27 Matty Foster
20 Oli Field
6 Ata Hingano
Subs (all used)
10 Paul Vaughan
11 Jesse Dee
13 Jordan Thompson
14 Denive Balmforth
18th Man (not used)
21 Kieran Buchanan
Also in 21-Man Squad
16 Justin Sangare
24 Will Dagger
46 David Nofaluma

Tries:  Bennison (6, 33, 72)
Goals: Bennison 1/3

SCORING SEQUENCE: 0-6, 4-6, 10-6, 12-6, 12-10; 16-10, 22-10, 22-14.

Rugby Leaguer & League Express Men of the Match
Leopards: Lachlan Lam; Knights: Jon Bennison