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 finished third last season, scored two late tries to provide 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 Adrian Lam exposing before kick-off he is down to 18 fit gamers, but they were designers of their own failure 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 penalties gave Trinity an upper hand.


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


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


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


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


Myers stretched Wakefield's lead within two minutes of the second half beginning, as O'Brien failed to handle Tyson Smoothy's chip through and presented the try to the winger after Faatili's farming kick on the last deal with had triggered confusion in the Leigh ranks.


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


Leigh likewise had a shot from Frankie Halton eliminated for a knock-on by Horne on a hectic night for video referee Liam Moore.


But the loss of Hughes to the sin-bin, for a tackle off the ball simply after the hour, proved important as Wakefield maximized the extra male 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 despite the fact that Jacob Alick-Wiencke crossed with 30 seconds left, the visitors fell short of finishing a return win.


'Pretty average performance' - response


Wakefield boss Daryl Powell told BBC Radio Leeds:


"2 points is two points however I thought it was a lovely average performance. We were so negative at the start and got belted for area in the 2nd half when our discipline was quite bad.


"Leigh were terrific, with the injuries they've got, and we didn't support what we did last week - sometimes that takes place when you've had a big win.


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


"We had 33% area in the second half and their line speed and intent was a bit much better than ours throughout the 80 minutes."


Leigh head coach Adrian Lam informed BBC Radio Manchester:


"There were some things that really hurt us. The penalty count I believe was 7-1 at half-time which was simply outrageous.


"It's extremely difficult to complete when it resembles that however we hung in there. I'm happy of them for competing right to the very end.


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


"We're there or thereabouts however a long way away - that's how it feels at the moment.


"We only had 11 gamers train this week. We're doing our finest. We simply have to find a win along the method so next week ends up being truly, truly important to us.


"It's effort at the moment but 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