By Matt Lawton
November 16 2010

A first half red card for Joe Evans left Leigh Genesis with too much to do with ten men as they suffered a distastrous home defeat to basement rivals Cammell Laird, despite a stirring second half display.

After making an impressive debut at the heart of the Leigh defence in last week's visit to Curzon Ashton, youth team graduate Steve Ferrigan was handed a full home debut in Genesis' first home fixture in over a month, with Tony Rendell moving in to midfield with Joe Evans and Paul Williams, while player/assistant manager Gary Scott filled in at left back in the absence of broken nose victim Andy Heald.

Having suffered a thumping 8-0 defeat at Skelmersdale United at the weekend, Birkenhead-based Cammell Laird visited Crilly Park with a point to prove and certainly had the better of the opening exchanges, with ex-Leigh man Lee Atherton a commanding figure in defence and former Tranmere Rovers and Huddersfield Town star Kenny Irons, a veteran of over 500 Football League appearances, pulling the strings in midfield.

Genesis goalkeeper Adam Judge had to be sharp to stop a couple of early Lairds attempts, but there was nothing he could do to prevent the visitors grabbing a deserved lead on thirty two minutes when Josh Brizzell was afforded far too much space to dribble forward before arrowing a terrific strike in to the top corner of Judge's net from twenty five yards out.

Having been booked four minutes previously for a tackle that also brought a booking for Lairds' front man Tony Sullivan's aggressive protests, Leigh's task was made even harder on forty four minutes when midfielder Joe Evans needlessly collected a second red card of the season for a second bookable offence after disputing a routine throw-in decision with the referee, leaving the visitors a goal, and a man, to the good at the break.

Leigh were out early for the second half after a roasting from boss Mark Maddox, and it showed as the hosts began the second period with renewed vigour and determination, with Mick Vernon and Rowan Garnett introduced for Nick Eastham and Paul Williams respectively and bringing a new sense of urgency to the Leigh performance as they constantly pressed and harried their opponents.

However, Leigh had only a Paul Hopkins free kick deflected wide of the target on fifty seven minutes to show for their efforts as they failed to create many clear-cut chances, with top scorer John Lawless brought on to replace the hard-working Brodie Kearns on sixty nine minutes.

Tony Rendell collected a booking against his former club on seventy one minutes before Leigh inevitably suffered a killer blow on seventy seven minutes when, as they pressed forward in search of an equaliser, Lairds mounted a counter attack and saw Brizzell release a shot that was too strong for Judge to hold on to, with Danny Andrews nudging the ball over the line as the Leigh defence desperately tried in vain to clear the ball away.

The second goal reignited Leigh's fervour and they pulled a goal back on eighty four minutes with a particularly well-worked effort from Lawless, his seventh of the season. Hopkins delivered a superb crosfield ball for Mick Vernon to turn on the right hand side of the penalty area, close to the by-line, to superbly cut the ball back for Lawless to head home and give Leigh hope of an unlikely point.

Those dreams of an equaliser were crushed just three minutes later though as Leigh were again caught out on the counter attack as they hunted for an equaliser as the visitors lumped a long ball from defence for Andrews to run on to and outpace Gary Scott before slotting past Judge for his second of the evening and secure a vital three points for Lairds that leaves Leigh four points adrift at the foot of the table.

Genesis are back in action this coming Saturday (20th November) when Clitheroe are the visitors to Crilly Park, with a free midweek being followed by a third consecutive home game when they face Woodley Sports the following Saturday (27th October, 3pm).

Leigh Genesis; Adam Judge, Danny Lyons, Gary Scott, Steve Ferrigan, Adam Farley, Tony Rendell, Paul Hopkins, Joe Evans, Nick Eastham (Mick Vernon 46), Paul Williams (Rowan Garnett 46), Brodie Kearns (John Lawless 69). Subs (not used); Adam Strode, Jack Burke