Centurions 29, Hull KR 24 - IT was a case of sweet and sour for Centurions coach Paul Terzis as he reflected on the victory that cemented Leigh's second spot in the NFP table.

Terzis declared himself satisfied with Leigh's narrow victory but the win was marred by an injury which has ended the season of ex-international centre Jon Roper.

Roper badly damaged medial ligamants in his knee and is now facing a lengthy lay-off.

Terzis admitted: "It's a massive blow to lose a player of Jon's quality and experience. But we'll just have to get on with it."

Even though Leigh needed a late field goal from top performer Paul Rowley late on to settle matters, Terzis felt his side were 'streets ahead' of Rovers.

"At the end of the day Rovers were nowwhere near as good as us. But we gave them a chance because we didn't cross the try-line as much as we should have done and they took advantage of that."

Although Leigh were never behind, they found it difficult to pull clear.

They had the benefit of an early converted try from Vila Matautia but were soon pegged back by Alasdair McClarron's try and a conversion by Chris Charles.

The tit-for-tat scoring continued with John Duffy putting Leigh back in front before Rovers again levelled through the first of Craig Murdock's double.

Leigh re-established their six-point cushion just before half time when Neil Turley and Andy Isherwood linked to send Adam Bristow racing to the posts for an 18-12 interval lead.

Chris Irwin's touchdown at the start of the second half should have killed Rovers off but a gift interception try for Jon Wilkin gave Hull another chance.

Leigh again opened up a handy lead with a typical poacher's try from Turley but when Murdock grabbed his second in the 66th minute, the match was back on a knife-edge.

It was only when Rowley knocked over the late one-pointer that Leigh could rest.

Eric Andrews scored a club record eight tries in the Under 19's Academy team's 84-6 hammering of Doncaster yesterday.