Celtic Crusaders 22 Leigh Centurions 14 CELTIC Crusaders took the spoils in a must-win Northern Rail Cup game against a Leigh Centurions outfit that lacked penetration in the first half and composure at crucial times in the second on Sunday.

The Crusaders opened the scoring after eight minutes when Luke Young linked with Mark Dallecort, and the big centre shrugged aside a tackler and held off Rob Smyth to go in at the corner.

Nine minutes later, Leigh replied when Martin Ainscough opened the defence for Aaron Heremaia to scoot through.

The Leigh captain drew Crusaders' full-back Tony Duggan before returning the pass for Ainscough to score.

The conversion from Adam Hughes put Leigh in front.

It was an uneasy lead that lasted until the 28th minute when Neil Budworth and Jase Van Dijk got the ball wide for Rob Toshack to score.

That was how it remained until half-time despite Chris Hill and Tommy Grundy going close as Leigh dominated the final 10 minutes of the half without success.

The second-half proved a scrappy affair and Leigh bombed two chances that left team manager Darren Shaw seething.

Miles Greenwood was the guilty party, twice spilling the ball as he raced through the line.

The Crusaders grabbed a decisive try after 58 minutes when Grant Epton chipped into the corner and won the race.

Within five minutes, Leigh grabbed their second try when Smyth contested an Ainscough kick to cross from 15 metres.

When John Hill went down injured after 69 minutes, Celtic recovered possession and countered with Damien Quinn and Young combining to send Paul Bollard over from 30 metres.

Quinn converted to stretch the Crusaders' lead to 12 points before Ainscough scored Leigh's third try four minutes from the end.

Unfortunately, it proved too little too late.