Leigh 23 Wilmslow 18

A LATE flourish failed to provide Wilmslow Wolves with the winning score needed to leap Northwich into third place in RFU North One West.

When Bob MacCallum kicked his second penalty it set up a rousing few final minutes in which Wolves threw everything they had against an impenetrable Leigh defence.

They had plenty of field position and territory and on another day it might have gone their way.

But the accuracy and control was missing and for all their territorial advantage and pressure, they were unable to create the clear-cut chances they needed.

Leigh, third from bottom going into the contest, determinedly held out.

The hosts had their noses in front throughout and nobody could complain that they did not deservedly earn the spoils.

It just goes to show that the difference between most of the sides in this league is not all that much and if a team are not at their best, then they can easily end up paying the price.

It did not take long to see that the game was a banana skin for Wolves as a hastily rearranged game on what had been a blank date seven days before, key players missing, others probably not fully match fit upon returning after long lay offs, newcomers drafted in sooner than planned and three weeks since they last played.

And an unconvincing looking Wilmslow line-up was mixed in with Leigh’s typically sodden mid-winter pitch, hardly much improved on the previous weekend when it had been ruled as unplayable, and a bristling resurgent home side who had rediscovered how to win.

Leigh kicker Elliot Ryan opened his account with an early penalty before the Wolves defence seemed awol as Leigh left winger Jimmy Wilkinson skated over between the posts on the quarter hour.

Wolves were still exerting most of the pressure but several promising positions broke down before MacCallum and Ben Day caught the Leigh defence unaware with a penalty cross-kick, instead of the expected prod into touch.

Day was fully aware of what MacCallum was going to do and took the ball to power over for the try, making it 10-7.

MacCallum tied things up with a penalty in the 37th minute but Leigh responded almost immediately from a penalty.

They took it quickly to catch Wolves unaware and speedster Wilkinson scorched past the defence to score his second try of the half.

As the third quarter came to its end, Wolves managed at last to make a catch-and-drive pay off, when hooker Alex Donaldson touched down.

The hard work, however, was immediately negated, when they failed to deal properly with the restart, allowing Wilkinson this time to plant a teasing kick into the left hand corner.

There was to be no escape as Wolves conceded a penalty for Ryan to make it a five-point advantage and 10 minutes later he had another shot at goal for 23-15, those successes proving to be the difference at the final whistle.

Wolves entertain seventh-placed Vale of Lune on Saturday.