By Matt Lawton
August 21 2010

Bright sunshine heralded Leigh Genesis' brave new era at Crilly Park, and it began with a bang with a half-time lead against last season's play-off semi finalists Curzon Ashton, but two second half goals in seven minutes saw new Genesis boss Mark Maddox begin his reign in charge with a defeat.

Maddox had promised his side would not shirk the physical challenges posed by competing in this league, and he was true to his word as his side showed a huge amount of motivation to fight for every loose ball, though they came up against an equally determined Curzon Ashton side as neither side managed to create many clear cut chances early on.

With a number of new players taking to the field after a large upheaval of playing staff during the summer, it was somewhat fitting that a mainstay of last season's campaign and a product of the Leigh youth system scored the first goal under Maddox's stewardship.

Nineteen year old Scott Sephton has made thirty five previous appearances for the club since making his debut in November 2008, but scored only one goal for the club, coming on his debut against Cammell Laird, but he was the unlikely source for Leigh's first goal on thirty one minutes. Maddox and his squad had spent the week hard at work to improve their set-piece play, and that attention to detail paid off when a left-sided free kick from Joe Evans found Sephton at the back post, and he made no mistake in sliding the ball underneath Curzon goalkeeper Dave Carhill.

A young squad has been built over the summer, but one Maddox believes will be large enough to cope with the inevitable injuries and suspensions over the course of the season, but he will have been disappointed to have to restructure his side as early as the 33rd minute when a bad tackle forced Paul Williams from the field, to be replaced by fellow summer arrival Mark King, though it wasn't enough to prevent Genesis from retaining their 1-0 lead at half-time.

Leigh had a scare at the start of the second half when Luke Mack found himself one-on-one with Adam Judge, but the Genesis goalkeeper excelled himself in coming out on top to save on forty seven minutes, with Leigh substitute Mark King seeing a chipped attempt from forty yards out tipped over the crossbar two minutes later.

Curzon looked set to equalise on fifty seven minutes when Genesis centre back Simon Pendlebury, who would leave the field seven minutes later to be replaced by James Bell, conceded a penalty for a sloppy attempted tackle on the edge of the box. However, barely ten minutes after proving with worth when denying Mack, Judge again turned out to be the hero with a superb penalty save from Curzon's Chris McDonagh, ironically a former Genesis player.

Although Curzon missed that chance to equalise, they didn't have to wait long to level the scores when a cross from the right hand side found Wayne Cahill unmarked at the back post, and he managed to lob the ball over Judge and in to the net on sixty eight minutes.

The game was turned on it's head on seventy five minutes when Genesis were unlucky to be caught out by the bounce of a ball when Adam Jones cross struck Daniel Lyons, who fell to the ground, with the ball fortuitously rebounding in to the path of Jones, who slotted in Curzon's second goal of the afternoon.

Leigh strived to equalise and made their final substitution a minute after the second goal when Kieran Molyneux came on for Nick Eastham, but Leigh were unable to level the scores and begin their first season with a defeat.

Maddox's side have a quick chance to make up for the defeat when they travel over the Pennines to face Wakefield at College Grove on Tuesday evening (7.45pm kick off), with admission costing £7.50 for adults, £5 for over 65's, £3 for students and £1 for under 16's.

Leigh's next outing at Crilly Park comes next Saturday when Vodkat Premier League side Runcorn Linnets are the visitors for an FA Cup Preliminary Round tie (Saturday 28th August, 3pm). Admission costs £7 for adults, £5 for over 65's & students and just £2 for under 18's.

Leigh Genesis; Adam Judge, Daniel Lyons, Adam Strode, Simon Pendle bury (James Bell 64), Scott Sephton, Gary Scott, Paul Hopkins, Joe Evans, John Lawless, Nick Eastham (Kieran Molyneux 69), Paul Williams (Mark King 33). Subs not used; Denis Barlow, Chris Dykes