Although Tuesday night's epic 2-1 victory over local rivals Prescot Cables was played in front of a partisan Hilton Park crowd, pitch complications meant that the UniBond Premier League fixture with Frickley had to be moved to Stainton Park, home of Radcliffe Borough, and it proved to be a lucky switch as Genesis ran out comfortable victors.

In a game that began amidst torrential rain in Radcliffe, the Leythers threatened to take the lead as early as the second minute, defender Paul Booth hammering the ball against the crossbar from an acute angle after retrieving the ball at the back post from a corner.

Even in the early stages of the game, Leigh were having a degree of success from a number of corner kicks, one being cleared to Mark Smyth on the edge of the area who curled his shot narrowly wide of Adam Nicklin's right hand post.

Smyth again went close shortly afterwards, jinking past Frickley captain Steve Robinson and sending a shot flying across the face of the goal that was a fraction in front of Leigh striker Matt Berkeley, who surely would have scored had he made a vital connection.

As Leigh continued to dominate the game, Tom Field did well to retain possession on the edge of the area before creating enough space to have a shot at goal, only for it to be a rather tame effort that Nicklin saved low down.

It looked as though Leigh had finally got the first goal that they deserved midway through the first half when Berkeley diverted the ball past Nicklin after a delightful one-two with Jordan Stepien, only for the goal, somewhat harshly, to be ruled out for offside.

However, it didn't take much longer for Genesis to get themselves on the scoresheet as, on twenty six minutes. Stepien was needlessly bundled over in the penalty area by Frickley defender Anthony Jackson, with the former Bury striker dusting himself off to slot the ball to the left of Nicklin and in to the net, although the Frickley goalkeeper will undoubtedly have been disappointed not to have kept it out after guessing to dive the correct way.

Playing downhill in the second half, Frickley, with just one win to their name so far this season, began to get more of a foothold in the game in terms of territory and possession, and, although they struggled to create any particularly clear-cut chances to threaten goalkeeper Steve Dickinson, Leigh's one goal margin was beginning to look decidedly slim.

Those nervy moments were forgotten with twenty minutes remaining when Smyth beat Nicklin to a Berkeley through ball, laying the ball off to substitute winger Jerome Watt who made no mistake in perfectly placing the ball in to an empty net from twenty five yards out, a first ever competitive Leigh Genesis goal for the crowd favourite.

Berkeley had a golden opportunity to extend Leigh's lead late on when he latched on to a terrific Tom Field through ball, the striker managing to dink the ball over Nicklin but unfortunately also managing to clear the crossbar by a small margin.

Jerome Watt almost grabbed his second of the afternoon in stoppage time, brushing off the attention of full back Chris Gowen before firing the ball across the face of goal, although on an another day it could be considered that Watt shouldn't have shrugged off Gowen's challenge, the referee placed nearby and seemingly with the whistle at his lips in anticipation of a second penalty of the afternoon.

Leigh's win sees them finally break their lose-win-lose sequence that has dogged them for the first month of the season, a second successive win giving them a huge boost ahead of Tuesday's trip down the M6 to Nantwich Town before an FA Cup First Qualifying Round tie away to UniBond League Division One side Curzon Ashton on Saturday (13th September, 3pm).

Leigh Genesis; Steve Dickinson, Paul Booth, Alex Mortimer, Tom Field (Jonathan Goulding), Josh Wilson, Rob Marsh-Evans, Bradley Maylett (Jerome Watt), Chris Holland, Jordan Stepien (Andrew Teague), Matt Berkeley, Mark Smyth

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