North West Counties Division One

Widnes Albert 10 Leigh Miners 14

WIDNES Albert came within a whisker of gaining their first victory of the season, producing probably their best performance of the season.

Leigh took an early lead when their winger gathered up a loose ball to score an unconverted try in the corner.

The Albert responded well with their forwards running strongly and props Leech and Snowling continually punched holes in the Miners defence.

However, it was the Leigh side who extended the lead against the run of play when a good pass out of the tackle saw them score a converted try under the posts.

The Albert kept plugging away, prompted well by Dave Laughton and Ste Allen and on the stroke of half-time they got their reward when an up-and-under from Laughton was fumbled allowing Ian Abram to go over for the try making the half-time score 4-10 to the visitors.

The Albert immediately went on attack in the second-half and a long pass from Laughton was collected by Tim Leech who stormed over for a try to the side of the posts. Dave Yeomans added the extras making the game all square.

Leigh began to raise their game and began to put the Albert under pressure and they retook the lead when a long ball saw their winger go over in the corner.

The Albert worked tirelessly to break down the Leigh defence but they were tackling well and stood firm against the Albert attack.

In the end, time run out on the Albert but they can take heart on a much improved performance.

For the Albert there were good performances in the backs by Campbell, Laughton and Allen while in the forwards Snowling, O'Neill, Leech and Woollam excelled. There were also fine debuts from Graham Cox and Paul McGuiness.

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