By Matt Lawton
November 6 2010

Despite holding a half-time lead against an Ossett Albion side that finished the afternoon with nine men, Leigh Genesis still somehow finished up travelling home over the Pennines empty-handed and at the foot of the Evo-Stik League Division One North table.

Having had to contend with a multitude of suspensions and injuries in recent weeks, Genesis boss Mark Maddox saw his selection options boosted to such an extent that for the first time in several weeks he was even able to avoid naming himself as one of his side's substitutes. Joe Evans returned to the Leigh midfield after being absent for nearly a month and Paul Hopkins was named in the starting line up after a recent spell on the sidelines with a broken nose. Left back Paul Williams also returned to the Leigh side while Scott Sephton made it as far as the substitute's bench though didn't come on to the field.

The hosts had the first chance of the game after just two minutes when Lee Bennett played in Phil Biscombe for a clear view of goal and strike from close range that Adam Judge did well to block away for a corner kick.

In a game of many talking points, the first arrived with only four minutes on the clock when a punt forward for Judge left Genesis front man John Lawless and Ossett defender Mark Ryan in a straight race for the bouncing ball. As the two tangled Ryan hauled Lawless back and, even with eighty six minutes of the game remaining, left the referee with little option but to show him a red card, though the man in the middle did decide that the original offence took place outside of the penalty area and not inside the eighteen yard box as several Leigh players believed.

With a man advantage and playing down a slight slope, Leigh were immediately thrust in to the driving seat and went close after ten minutes when an Evans corner only came out as far as Hopkins on the edge of the area but his shot was skewed wide of the target. Leigh didn't have to wait much longer to take the lead though, and they did so in well-crafted circumstances on eighteen minutes. Paul Williams showed terrific vision and execution to switch the play from the left flank to the right hand touchline with one simple pass that meant Paul Hopkins didn't even need to break his stride to receive the ball. Hopkins delivered a pinpoint cross for an Evans header that Albion goalkeeper Luke Herriott did well to save, only to parry it to the feet of Nick Eastham who made no mistake in firing his first league goal for the club in to the roof of the net.

Ossett's Lee Bennett was afforded far too much space when on a driving run forward in the twenty seventh minute that eventually saw him within strike distance of goal, but his shot wasn't enough to beat Judge who did well to palm the ball away for the corner.

A game that had been stewing for much of it's duration threatened to boil over shortly before half-time when Ryan White was fouled for a particularly late challenge on Andy Heald on thirty nine minutes before Heald was shown a yellow card of his own for a foul three minutes later, with Leigh retaining their lead at the break.

Leigh seemed happy to rest on their one goal lead in the early exchanges of the second half, and it was on the counter attack that they posed more of a threat as demonstrated with a quick break on fifty five minutes that finished with Herriott palming over a Lawless half-volley from outside of the area that was dipping menacingly towards the goal.

During the course of the season so far, Leigh have shown an uncanny knack of being able to shoot themselves in the foot, and it was all too familiar on fifty eight minutes when the hosts were needlessly gifted a golden opportunity to get back in to the game when a long ball forward was chased half-heartedly by Shane Kelsey, who didn't appear to have any chance of reaching the ball before it went out of play but still appeared to be enough of a threat for Judge to drag him down in the area despite the Albion substitute running in the direction away from goal. After earning the penalty, it was Kelsey that stepped up to the spot and calmly sent Judge the wrong way to level the scores with a little over half an hour remaining.

Less than a minute after drawing level, Ossett showed a Genesis-esque ability to make a hash of things when they were reduced to nine men when Ryan White was shown a second yellow card and given his marching orders for a late foul on Hopkins in midfield.

Two more Ossett players found themselves in the book in the next ten minutes as they tried desperately to stifle any hopes Leigh had of regaining the lead.

Using virtually every trick in the book to run the clock down as much as possible, Ossett seemed happy enough to work for a share of the spoils, but their nine men were catapulted in to euphoria on seventy five minutes when a rare Tony Rendell mistake saw Ossett regain possession in midfield and quickly feed Joshua Moore through on goal to poke the ball past Judge and give Ossett a one goal lead that even their most optimistic fan might have considered unlikely when faced with a two man disadvantage.

Two minutes later and it seemed victory would be sealed for the hosts when they were handed another unnecessary penalty, this time when Adam Farley lost his bearings in the penalty area and brought down Joshua Moore. Kelsey stepped up in the hope of beating Judge from the spot for a second time, but the Leigh goalkeeper was equal to it on this occasion and gave Leigh the chance to fight on by diving to his right hand side to keep out the penalty.

Brodie Kearns was introduced for the struggling Farley as Leigh pushed men forward in the hope of an equaliser, but they had to wait until the ninety third minute for a genuine opportunity when Rendell knocked down an Andy Heald pass in to the feet of Lawless who did well to turn and deliver a shot on goal but only straight at goalkeeper Herriott.

The final whistle saw the home side celebrate victory like it were a World Cup, while the Leigh players sank to their knees in disappointment. Mark Maddox's side will have to pick themselves up quickly ahead of another testing week on the road with an away trip to Curzon Ashton on Monday evening (8th November, 7.45pm kick off) being followed by a Saturday trip to Lancaster City (13th November, 3pm).

Leigh Genesis; Adam Judge, Danny Lyons, Paul Williams, Tony Rendell, Adam Farley (Brodie Kearns 82), Gary Scott (Jack Burke 70), Paul Hopkins, Joe Evans, John Lawless, Nick Eastham, Andy Heald. Subs (not used); Adam Strode, Scott Sephton, Rowan Garnett