Wakefield Contribute To Leigh's Early-season Woes

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Wakefield (8) 18


Tries: Tevaga, Myers, Pratt Goals: Jowitt 3


Leigh (4) 14


Tries: O'Brien, Charnley, Alick-Wiencke Goal: Cook


Wakefield exacted a procedure of revenge for their removal by Leigh in last season's play-offs as the Leopards' poor start to the Super League campaign continued.


Leigh, who completed third last season, scored two late shots to deliver a tight scoreline but a fourth defeat in 5 means they remain 2nd from bottom.


They have actually been hit hard by early-season injuries, with head coach Adrian Lam revealing before kick-off he is down to 18 fit players, but they were architects of their own downfall at the DIY Kitchens Stadium with their indiscipline.


A second-half sin-binning for Jack Hughes after they had actually conceded a stream of first-half charges gave Trinity an upper hand.


Wakefield led 8-4 at the break. Loose forward Jazz Tevaga gave them the lead with his first shot for the club in the 11th minute, with some late footwork taking the excellent Samoan outside Isaac Liu near to the Leigh line to discuss.


Leigh came close in the 19th minute however Tom Johnstone, making his 200th profession look, avoided stand-in centre Hughes grounding the ball over the line.


Wakefield's Jayden Myers had a try prohibited for a foot in touch as he introduced himself in at the right-hand corner after some fine defence from Innes Senior.


But after Caius Faatili spilled possession in a deal with by Liam Horne from the kick-off, Leigh penalized Trinity with full-back Gareth O'Brien requiring his method over for the shot to keep them in touch.


Myers stretched Wakefield's lead within 2 minutes of the second half beginning, as O'Brien failed to handle Tyson Smoothy's chip through and provided the shot to the winger after Faatili's farming kick on the last tackle had actually caused confusion in the Leigh ranks.


Brilliant defence from Max Jowitt denied first Tesi Niu, as the full-back got his body under the centre as he crossed the line, and after that Senior in the corner.


Leigh also had a shot from Frankie Halton dismissed for a knock-on by Horne on a busy night for video referee Liam Moore.


But the loss of Hughes to the sin-bin, for a tackle off the ball just after the hour, showed crucial as Wakefield took advantage of the extra man with Ollie Pratt reviewing in the 64th minute.


Josh Charnley pulled a try back with 10 minutes left from Adam Cook's pass - his 258th in Super League - however although Jacob Alick-Wiencke crossed with 30 seconds left, the visitors disappointed finishing a resurgence win.


'Pretty typical efficiency' - reaction


Wakefield manager Daryl Powell told BBC Radio Leeds:


"2 points is two points but I believed it was a pretty typical performance. We were so negative at the start and got belted for area in the second half when our discipline was pretty bad.


"Leigh were fantastic, with the injuries they have actually got, and we didn't back up what we did last week - in some cases that occurs when you've had a big win.


"We can play much better than that, we have to play much better than that, we have to improve and find out some lessons from it.


"We had 33% area in the 2nd half and their line speed and intent was a bit better than ours across the 80 minutes."


Leigh head coach Adrian Lam informed BBC Radio Manchester:


"There were some things that truly injured us. The charge count I think was 7-1 at half-time which was simply outrageous.


"It's really challenging to contend when it resembles that but we hung in there. I take pride in them for contending right to the very end.


"It was three tries all at the end. If we kick our goals we the video game but it wasn't to be.


"We're there or thereabouts but a long method away - that's how it feels at the minute.


"We only had 11 gamers train this week. We're doing our best. We just need to discover a win along the way so next week ends up being really, truly crucial to us.


"It's effort at the moment however there's no need to panic."


Wakefield: Jowitt; Myers, Scott, Pratt, Johnstone; Sinfield, Trueman; McMeeken, Smoothy, Rodwell, Nikotemo, Vagana, Tevaga.


Interchanges: Storton, Pitts, Hamlin-Eule, Faatili.


Leigh: O'Brien; Senior, Niu, Hughes, Charnley; Cook, Lam; Trout, McNamara, Mulhern, Halton, Alick-Wiencke, Liu.


Interchanges: Brogan, Brown, Davis, Horne.


Referee: Chris Kendall.


Leigh Leopards