By Matt Lawton
July 31 2010

Leigh Genesis might have suffered their first defeat of the pre-season campaign, but it was far from an embarrassment after more than holding their own against a Vauxhall Motors side who compete in the Blue Square North, two league above Genesis.

With the main Rivacre Park pitch unable to host the game after a midweek deluge left it unplayable, the fixture was instead played at a pitch that was adjacent to the ground and proved more than adequate, with the quality of the playing surface far superior to many that Genesis would expect to encounter even during their league season.

Leigh started brightly and went close after just four minutes when a cross from the left hand side was good enough to evade a Vauxhall defender and find Nick Eastham at the back post, only for his strike to fly over the crossbar.

The Motors goalkeeper was almost caught out on eighteen minutes when Genesis left back Paul Williams intercepted a throw from the home goalkeeper on eighteen minutes, but his ambitious chipped shot from distance drifted over the crossbar.

After arguably having the better of the opening period, it seemed that something special would be required for Genesis to be undone, and that piece of quality came on twenty four minutes when Vauxhall midfielder Chris Noone picked the ball up on the right hand side of the Leigh penalty area and dribbled around a couple of defenders before slotting a shot past Genesis goalkeeper Alan Fitzpatrick, albeit with the assistance of the goalkeeper's left hand post.

Five minutes later and Vauxhall almost doubled their lead when ex-Leigh man Tom Field delivered a cross from the right hand side for a team mate to send a half-volley towards goal from inside the penalty area, only to be denied by a great save from Fitzpatrick to palm the ball away to keep Leigh in the contest at just a goal down at half-time.

Just two minutes after the restart, Genesis showed their intentions of remaining in the game when some hardworking play up front was rewarded by a Vauxhall centre back being dispossessed on the edge of his own penalty area, only for the resultant shot to be rushed and hit straight at the goalkeeper.

With fifty one minutes on the clock, Genesis had a big penalty shout turned down by the referee when Nick Eastham latched on to a through ball and appeared to be brought down in the penalty area, only for the appeals to fall on deaf ears.

Seven minutes later and Leigh were continuing the attacking theme when midfielder Andy Heald threaded a ball through for Rick Gleave to go clean through on goal but see his shot tipped away by the goalkeeper when left one-on-one.

After a keenly fought first seventy minutes, the final twenty minutes saw the game melt in to the pre-season trap of a disjointed affair with both sides making numerous substitutions as they look for their players to earn valuable match fitness ahead of their respective league campaigns.

Although undoubtedly disappointed to lose their unbeaten record after four pre-season games, Genesis will have had plenty of positive notes to take from a game that might have seen an opposite result on another day ahead of Tuesday's Anglo-Welsh fixture with Cefn Druids (3rd August, 6.45pm kick off) in what marks the hosts' penultimate game at their current Plaskynaston Lane home ground before moving to their new stadium at The Rock in time for the new Cymru Alliance season.