Centurions steal a march on Hornets
LEIGH continued their challenge for a spot in the top five of the Betfred Championship with a comprehensive 46-6 home win against Rochdale.
Former Wigan Warriors centre, Iain Thornley, opened the scoring for the Centurions after just 10 minutes.
James Bentley, Jonny Pownall and Gregg McNally all scored to give the home side a 30-point lead at the break, with Carl Forster’s side hindered by a yellow card shown to Scott Moore for the challenge on Pownall in the act of scoring. It was a much tighter start to the second half, but it was Leigh that brought an end to the stalemate with little more than 10 minutes remaining, Bentley touching down for his second score.
Liam Hood crossed soon after, followed by McNally’s second, while Ryan Millington scored just prior to the to final hooter.
At Heywood Road, Swinton again fell short in their search for a first league win of the season, following a feisty affair against Featherstone.
The Lions took an early lead through former Salford Red Devils and Rochdale forward, Gavin Bennion, and Oscar Thomas extended the advantage to eight points with a conversion and penalty goal five minutes later. However, three tries in quick succession from the Rovers left Stuart Littler’s side facing a 18-8 deficit at halftime.
Liam Paisley and Luke Briscoe were shown yellow cards early in the second period, while the visitors were soon down to 11 men when Josh Hardcastle was also sent to the bin.
Swinton capitalised through Matty Ashton, but Jack Ormondroyd’s try killed off the home side’s resurgence, but Rovers still had time to have a third player sin-binned, with Cameron King given his marching orders.