Have these lads been on the lash all week?

Could lose this

Phew!

You're not kidding! Got away with one there.

Tired, disjointed performance from the team this afternoon.

All credit to Barrow whose heads could have dropped at 18 nil down. At this point they scored a cracker of a try down their left wing and from that point they were flying and it was game on. A good crowd of 3400 sensed that they were not out of the fight and the game increasingly became a struggle for us.

Our famed watertight defence was positively porous and fragile, perhaps because the team had not had a practice since Saturday's game - according to Lam in his pre-game interview. Perhaps it was due to the team changes and resting of key players - Inu, Mellor, Sidlow, Aekins, Wardle, Smith or the testing of previously untried defensive combinations, Brand at full back, Hichcox wing, Roberts centre and Hingano scrum half. Perhaps too many changes for smooth continuity. Oh, and by the way there was one hell of a defensive howler for one of their tries which will now be shown for years on You've Been Framed. Just wait until you see the highlights.

It all got pretty scary towards the end of the game particularly when they went 4 in front with 10 minutes left and then had a penalty at 28 -30 with a couple of minutes left which they elected to kick for the draw, and missed, rather then go for a last set of 6 near the Leigh line.

Hopefully we can put this performance to bed. We won. We showed a certain amount of resilience to get the win against highly motivated and determined opponents demonstrating no little amount of collective will to win and skill. Barrow were opponents who were in their own back yard in front of a noisy and pumped-up home crowd who smelled blood of the cherry and white variety. We got away with a close game. On to Sunday and on to Halifax. Hopefully a chance to show we are better than what we put forward for show today.

Thanks, as ever for your informed input, Jack. You seem to have been there which makes 1. Radio Cumbria announced the gate as 2,422 though.

Jarrod Sammut has been a thorn in Leigh's side for some years (including when wearing C&W) but it sounds like he finally turned away from the Dark Side today with a bad call (when Barrow were ahead) that ultimately led to Ferguson's second and then a skewed would-be leveller.

It is often said that Champs in the making find a way to win even when they are below their normal level. Today by all accounts Leigh did not. However, Sammut found a way to lose!

Bongser, i clearly had difficulty interpreting what the home announcer was saying when the crowd figure was revealed! The figure that i heard was due to a mixture of impenetrable south Cumbrian accent on the part of the announcer, a muffled and truly rubbish PA system and also my bad hearing.

Sammut did have a good game. Could he have won the game or did he lose it? You pays your money and you takes your choice, glass half full or half empty. He is still a good player and i would have liked to have seen him play more for Leigh when he was with us - what was it, just a few minutes of one game against Halifax before he got sent off and then COVID hit and the season ended and he didn't play for us again.

It's a brave soul who travels to Cumbria for a game of Rugby and expects to come back with the spoils. Collective sigh of relief, having dodged a bullet. Roll on the Halifax Panthers in a few days time.

Oh dear, I have seen the highlights and Roberts missed a tackle and Brand gave a try away. Horrible stuff.

I also watched the highlights and it looked like a training session. The tackling wasn't as ferocious as normal, plus 7 1st choice players missing. I wouldn't read too much into that game. They did enough. Fax and Fev games will be back to normal. I'm going for 2 Leigh wins and a revert back to our mean defence.

I'm worried about the Fax game. Why did they get to play on Tuesday and the rest of us on Thursday? We need a good lead going into the last 20 minutes because if its close I think we will tire.