East off the mark in NCL

02 Apr 2017 in News

East off the mark in NCL East off the mark in NCL

Leigh East 46

Salford City Roosters 8

By Dave Parkinson.

It has been a while in coming but Leigh East's first league win of the season was worth the wait as Nathan Gaskell helped himself to a hat-trick and the hosts scored eight tries in all.

Salford City Roosters arrived with both them and East occupying the bottom two positions in Kingstone Press National Conference Division Two.

It was a tentative opening from the visitors who pushed forward and won a penalty that Ben White guided between the posts for a 2-0 lead after four minutes.

East responded well with Pat Rainford scooting over from dummy half close to the line and Tom Worthington booted the first of seven goals.

Next came some Rugby League smarts as the ball was kicked long from a scrum and Josh Adudwumaa chased down and secured possession. As Salford City Roosters were still back tracking, the ball was moved right at pace and Nathan Gaskell cut inside for his first try of the afternoon.

Leading 10-2, East had Phil Bickerstaff sent to the sin-bin for a high tackle. Despite his absence, Leigh East were in an attacking mood and claimed two further tries. The first went the way of returning Mark Cahill who forced his way over from dummy half before Gaskell cut a second swathe through the defence after 28 minutes. Worthington added his third conversion and East were well served in the middle of the park by the likes of Jay Yarwood, Adam Wilkes, Steven Keegan and Jonathan Abbott. Hooker Tom Pratt continued to graft for the visitors but they found themselves 22-2 down at half-time.

Leigh East began the second half well and when Adam Holland and Tom Worthington linked to great effect, Worthington's looping pass right saw Zac Nicholls send Gaskell over for his hat-trick try. Joe Connor was sinbinned after 50 minutes for the visitors and East made them pay with a sensational 70 metre raid. The Roosters had kicked deep with the ball trickling deep behind Chris Penn. The fullback charged out to take the 20 metre tap, powered upfield and played the ball quickly for Josh Adudwumaa to beat all comers through the middle of the field. Worthington added his fifth goal and East now led 34-2.

Adudwumaa looked set to repeat his feat a couple of moments later only to slip a pass to Holland who was tripped by White. That resulted in a red card for the visiting stand-off. Now reduced to eleven men, East made their advantage count just before the hour when strong running from Bickerstaff saw him run under the posts. 

Six minutes later East were at their best again when Cahill split the defence, Penn followed up and Holland danced inside for the hosts eighth try. Worthington completed his seven goal haul but there was still just enough time near the end for Joe Connor to claim a consolation score with Andy Muscat converting.

Leigh East: Chris Penn, Josh Adudwumaa, Curtis Littlewood, Nathan Gaskell, Ryan Hughes; Adam Holland, Tom Worthington; Jay Yarwood, Pat Rainford, Adam Wilkes, Zac Nicholls, Josh Swift, Phil Bickerstaff. Subs: Mark Cahill, Steve Keegan, Ryan Holcroft, Jonathan Abbott.

Tries: Rainford, Gaskell 3, Cahill, Adudwumaa, Bickerstaff, Holland.

Goals: Worthington 7/8.

Sinbinned: Phil Bickerstaff (21).

Salford City Roosters: Andy Muscat, Tom Smith, Adam Walker, Danny Trimble, George Kemp; Brad White, Paul Morgan; Marc Jones, Tom Pratt, Ben Connor, Joe Connor, Mike Burr, Mike Foster. Subs: Connor McGoughey, Jimmy Lomax, Damola Ayanlaja, Ste Barry.

Try: Joe Connor.

Goal: Ben White 1/1, Andy Muscat 1/1.

Sinbinned: Joe Connor (50).

Sent-off: Brad White (57).

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