Kieron Purtill believes Leigh’s Challenge Cup victory over Batley could be the turning point in their season.
After a difficult start to the season, the Centurions came from behind in awful conditions to secure a much-needed victory over the Bulldogs and advance to the fifth round of the competition.
The importance of the victory didn’t evade Purtill, who admitted that the players had needed something to build on after a string of disappointing results.
“It was a really good, old-fashioned win that one,” he said.
“Firstly I think both sets of players should get applauded for putting a spectacle on in tough conditions, we’ve got grown men shivering away in there. I’m really happy with the win, it was a tough old win and plaudits go to both sets of players.
“We’ve got a week now, we can look back and say we’ve done some really good things from a game rather than trying to keep improving and fix things up. We’re back in Tuesday and we’ll look forward to next week’s game.”
Leigh’s main issue this season has been their defence, conceding over 22 points per game.
However, the Bulldogs were restricted to two penalty goals and failed to break down Leigh’s defence when chasing the game.
“I think defensively our process in the ruck was really good,” Purtill said.
“We turned up for each other, we scrambled really hard and we controlled the ball better. I think some of the guys who came in gave us a bit more impetus.
“We knew the conditions weren’t going to be great, we spoke about that, we all know what the hill is like at Batley so we’d spoke about that in the week. It was about getting our attitude right, turning up and getting a win.”
A full report is available in the new League Express.
