Leigh Centurions 22 Oldham 14: LEIGH'S new coaching assistant, John Pendlebury, looked on as the Centurions kicked off the new season with a satisfactory victory over Oldham in the group section of the Arriva Trains National Cup.

Pendlebury sat alongside head coach Paul Terzis as he saw Oldham born Damien Munro help put the skids under his hometown club.

Pendlebury, a former Leigh player and coach of Halifax, will combine his assistant coaching duties with the handling of the Academy under 21s side.

Their preparations badly hit by the weather, Leigh were hardly at full steam but in patches again showed that they will be up there with the major contenders again this season.

Munro, one of Leigh's nine off season recruits, scored two tries as the Centurions held off an Oldham counter in the second half.

Second rower Sean Richardson was another to show up well on his debut while Aussie half-back Pat Weisner made one telling contribution by supplying the scoring pass for another newcomer, full-back Dave Alstead, just before the end.

Munro's second minute try gave Leigh an early 4-0 lead but until the second half further scoring opportunities were limited in a game dominated by the boot.

Ex-Leigh favourite Simon Svabic made his first return to Hilton Park and kept Oldham in touch with two first half penalties while Leigh's Lee Sanderson put over a couple of two pointers to give his side an 8-4 half time lead.

The game blossomed after the break. Goddard had a try disallowed for a forward pass and Munro was a finger-tip away from touching down in the opening two minutes before Svabic's long ball and a flicked pass from another ex-Leigh star Paul Anderson sent Gavin Dodd sliding in at the corner to level the scores.

Smart Leigh play between Richardson and Duffy got Munro away in the 57th minute and his inside pass sent John Hamilton racing over to restore Leigh's lead at 14-8.

When Munro exploded through a gap to sprint 60 metres for his second try, Leigh's win look assured.

But Oldham came back again with a Phil Farrell try two minutes from time to make Leigh sweat at 18-14 but in stoppage time Alstead forced his way over for the clincher.

Arriva Trains National League Cup West: Leigh 22 Oldham 14, Salford 58 Swinton 6. Arriva Trains National League Cup Central: Batley 16 Hunslet 8, London Skolars 10 Dewsbury 22. Arriva Trains National League Cup East: Featherstone 30 Sheffield 12, York 26 Hull K R 36. Arriva Trains National League Cup North: Barrow 18 Chorley Lynx 18, Whitehaven 42 Gateshead 6. Arriva Trains National League Cup: Keighley 21 Doncaster 14, Rochdale 32 Workington 8