photo by Ian Lovell

Celtic Crusaders put in a performance worthy of Super League as they continued with their charge for second place in Co-operative National League One, winning a hard-fought game against Leigh Centurions in Bridgend on Sunday.

The Centurions’ Welsh hoodoo continued as this was their sixth successive defeat against a side from the Principality.

The result leaves the Welsh side level with Halifax in second place with two teams clashing in Yorkshire next week.

In what was a fiery encounter, the Crusaders took the lead after just five minutes when Mark Dalle Cort ran over in the corner following good work from Neil Budworth, Damien Quinn and Mark Lennon.

Paul Ballard was denied a second Crusaders score straight from kick-off after he dived onto a perfect Quinn grubber. But the referee ruled it out claiming he was too late and the ball had gone past the dead ball line.

Leigh took advantage and levelled things when their winger Steve Maden did manage to get to a grubber, placed nicely by Dennis Moran, in the corner – the former London Bronco making up for a dropped ball minutes earlier. Like Mark Lennon before him, Ian Mort failed to add the extras and the scores were locked at 4-4.

A further Lee Doran try was given in controversial fashion. Aled James dropped the ball when he was knocked out by Moran’s accidental headbutt after picking up Ian Watson’s chip. Doran took advantage of the loose ball and touched it to the tryline. Moran’s taunts at the concussed James weren’t appreciated by the Crusaders’ players and there was a significant delay before Mort converted the try.

James took no further part in the game.

The lead was increased to 12 moments later after Steve Maden caught Moran’s chip with Mort converting again.

But Crusaders struck back when Darren Mapp slid his way through Leigh’s backline to ground. Lennon converted.

Leigh wasted a valuable chance on the half hour following an excellent move. Mort, Maden, Kohe-Love, Moran and Doran were all involved and Mark Roberts should have passed to Dave Alstead, who was in acres of space, and the opportunity was lost.

A further chance wasn’t taken from the drop out when Watson’s grubber was kicked away. Ian Webster forced a further GLDO from Moran’s cheeky chip.

Finally Centurions managed to ground, but again in controversial fashion when Doran looked to have dropped the ball when he dived over for his second. However Jamie Leahy awarded the score and Mort looked to have restored the visitor’s 12-point gap at the interval.

However Crusaders retained the ball straight away from a penalty and a well-worked move saw Tony Duggan scoring under the posts giving Lennon an easy kick.

Duggan was the first over the line in the second half, running through on 47 minutes to score. A classy try involving with skilful handoffs from both Budworth and David Tangata-Toa. Lennon levelled things up again with the kick.

Paul Ballard followed him over immediately after good work from Neil Budworth and Josh Hannay. Lennon missed the kick but compensated after converting a penalty to make the score 28-22.

And the gap was increased to 12 points after Jordan James picked up a loose ball

to run under the posts with Lennon converting.

Both sides had opportunities to score again. Mort was held up over the line while Ian Webster was halted in his tracks when running through to score as the referee had blown for an earlier infringement.

A Lennon try, set up by Budworth on 68 minutes sealed things but Leigh had time for another score to secure a valuable bonus point – Dave Alstead going over and Mort converting.

Both coaches agreed that this was an excellent game of rugby league and was a hard-fought match.

Crusaders boss John Dixon said: “In the first half, the scoreline didn’t go our way but the effort was still first class. We scored before half-time and that made things obtainable in the second half. However you have to give Leigh credit, they forced a whole stack of goal-line drop-outs and were always in contention.

“I was very proud of our players today, I can’t speak highly enough about them. It was a vital three points for us against a quality team to maintain our spot in the league.”

His opposite number Neil Kelly agreed and said that despite the defeat, his team are still looking for a high finish in the table.

“I set our players a target of four wins from the last six games and we’re still on our way to achieving it,” he said. “It was the old game of two halves today, we had the rub of the green in the first half and they did in the second. It was a tough contest and an excellent game of rugby league.”

CELTIC CRUSADERS
1. Tony Duggan
2. Paul Ballard
3. Josh Hannay                 
4. Mark Dalle Cort             
5. Aled James                   
6. Damien Quinn               
7. Mark Lennon                
8. Jordan James               
9. Neil Budworth               
10. Gareth Dean               
11. Chris Beasley              
12. Darren Mapp   
13. Terry Martin                
Subs:
14. Ian Webster                
16. Ben Flower                 
17. David Tangata-Toa      
18. Geraint Davies            

Tries: Dalle Cort (5), Mapp (24), Duggan (37, 47), Ballard (50), J.James (57), Lennon (68)
Goals: Lennon 5/7

LEIGH CENTURIONS
1. Ian Mort
2. Dave Alstead
3. Mark Roberts
4. Toa Kohe-Love
5. Steve Maden
6. Dennis Moran
7. Ian Watson
8. Mike Morrison
9. Dave McConnell
10. Lee Doran
11. Adam Higson
12. James Taylor
13. Aaron Smith
Subs:
14. Adam Thomas
15. Adam Rudd
16. Chris Hill
17. Gareth Price

Tries: Maden (13, 18), Doran (16, 33), Alstead (71)
Goals: Mort 4/5

Attendance: 1,359
Men of the Match:
Crusaders – Neil Budworth
Centurions – Ian Mort
Penalties: 10-5
Scoring Sequence: 4-0, 4-4, 4-10, 4-16, 10-16, 10-22, 16-22, 22-22, 26-22, 28-22, 34-22, 38-22, 38-28
Half-time: 16-22
Gamestar: Neil Budworth who worked hard for a solid 80 minutes.
Gamebreaker: Mark Lennon’s try with 12 minutes remaining secured a tough win.
Weather: Cloudy, wet underfoot
Match Rating: 4/5

article by Ian Golden
10 August 2008