On a warm Tameside afternoon, Leigh knew they were in for a tough encounter against their lower league opponents when Curzon striker Michael Norton, who was to prove a nuisance all afternoon, looped a header against Steve Dickinson's crossbar after just five minutes of action.

After producing a dazzling display of football in Tuesday's 1-1 draw away to Nantwich Town, Leigh found themselves frustrated by a hardworking Curzon side that put enough pressure on Genesis to ensure that the visitors never really got in to their stride, with Steve Bleasdale's cause hardly helped by an early injury to Mark Smyth that meant the introduction of Jonathan Goulding and, to some extent, the shape of Leigh's midfielder had been decimated.

Although it was the hosts that were enjoying much of the possession, Leigh were the ones creating the majority of the goalscoring chances, albeit many of them half-chances at best as first Chris Holland drove a shot narrowly over the crossbar from distance before the Curzon goalkeeper demonstrated a terrific save to palm a deflected Jerome Watt shot away for a corner after the Leigh winger had benefited from a somewhat fortunate rebound off the referee, with Andrew Teague heading over from the resultant corner.

Watt was finding himself at the hub of Leigh's best attacking opportunities and he was slotted through by Rob Marsh-Evans after a determined run from the defender, only to fire straight at the goalkeeper and leaving the game goal-less at the break.

Genesis had a horror start to the second half when Josh Wilson horribly misjudged a simple pass back to his goalkeeper, with Norton latching on the ball to round Dickinson and eventually fire the ball in to the net after originally it had seemed he had miscontrolled and missed his chance.

Andrew Teague came within inches of equalising with twenty minutes remaining when he headed a terrific Jerome Watt cross over the bar but, despite forcing a succession of corners towards the end of the game, Leigh simply didn't have the answer to find a way past Curzon and now face another season without FA Cup glory.

Leigh Genesis; Steve Dickinson, Josh Wilson, Rob Marsh-Evans, Tom Field, Andrew Teague, Jerome Fitzgerald (Dean Barrett), Jerome Watt, Chris Holland, Jordan Stepien (Darren Mansaram), Matt Berkeley, Mark Smyth (Jonathan Goulding)

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