Miners wanted nothing in terms of possession and territory in the opening stages as they camped in the Dockers’ half but too often took the wrong option in attack and failed to convert their pressure into points. Dockers showed the way from their first real chance of note, Chris Stephenson’s bomb spilled by the Miners defence and from the attacking position Steve Sellars unlocked the defence in the simplest fashion, his pass from acting half finding Arron Bradley on the charge ten metres out to storm under the posts, Stephenson goaling. Miners struggled to find a response and almost fell further behind as Scott O’Brien just managed to shove Dominic Proctor into touch as the winger ran for the tryline. Finally Miners made the breakthrough, O’Brien flicking a reverse pass out to Jonny Youds to gather and dive over the line, the fullback goaling to level matters, and even better was to come for the hosts as referee Michael Mannifield concluded a series of penalties against Dockers by sin-binning Karl Smirk. From the resultant penalty the ball was moved left and Shaun Marsh put Sean Pendlebury over at the corner flag, Youds’ fine conversion giving the Leigh side a six point interval lead.

The stage appeared to be set for Miners to kick on against a twelve-man Dockers side still mulling over the swift turn in fortunes but it was the exact opposite as the Hull side were galvanised by their misfortune and mounted a stirring fightback. Within two minutes of the restart they were level as they stole the ball one-on-one inside the Miners’ half and from the field position Stephenson dummied to create the gap for himself to stride through, the conversion tying matters up. This began a tit-for-tat spell as the lead changed hands three times inside twenty minutes. First Aaron Gorton, who enjoyed a lively cameo from the bench, linked up with Craig Connor to put the prop over the line and restore Miners’ advantage. Dockers then regained the initiative, Stephenson putting his halfback partner Smirk through from close range and goaling to put his side two points ahead. Miners responded when O’Brien and Marsh combined to send Adam Thomason in for a try but with ten minutes remaining it was all square, Miners penalised when in possession under their own sticks for striking out at the tacklers and Stephenson with the routine kick to make it 20-20. Just two minutes later and Dockers had the winning score, the defence split down the middle as Stephenson went through on half-way and the stand-off finding Danny Patrick in support to finish off, the conversion making it 26-20 and lacklustre Miners unable to conjure up a response.

Miners – Jonny Youds, Sean Pendlebury, Lee Gittins, Liam Coleman, Jonny Carroll, Jimmy Muir, Scott O’Brien, Craig Connor, Tom Farrimond, Danny Jackson, Adam Thomason, Shaun Marsh, David Rowlands Subs – Aaron Gorton, Ryan Ravenscroft, Michael Evans, Kevin Howells

Tries – Youds (33) Pendlebury (40) Connor (48) Thomason (66)

Goals – Youds 2

Dockers – Danny Patrick, Robbie Smith, Steve Milne, Jason Bowsley, Dominic Proctor, Chris Stephenson, Karl Smirk, Arron Bradley, Steve Sellars, Gareth Moore, Craig Skelton, Jon Eccles, Andy Kay Subs – Darren Bunby, Matt Emerson, Paul Fletcher, Alex Everitt

Tries – Bradley (11) Stephenson (42) Smirk (55) Patrick (72)

Goals – Stephenson 5

Referee – Michael Mannifield

With thanks to DRB Photos for the images above and with thanks to Alan Ball (Facebook – ThePhotographyMan) for the images below

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