Leigh 52, Cougars 16 - A FLASH of brilliance from Olly Marns produced a sparkling climax to the Cougar clash with Leigh.

Marns, showed his Super League pedigree to collect the ball behind his own line, break clear and burst the length of the field to score with the last move of the game.

It was a late defiant display with Adam Mitchell adding the goal to give Cougars 16 points.

But the final flourish could do little to disguise a poor second half display which had seen the Centurions running in tries almost at will.

The Lancastrian side is a far cry from the team which has been flying high in the Northern Ford Premiership for the last two seasons, but they didn't need to turn on a high-class performance to put 52 points past a Keighley side which surrendered early in the second half.

For the rest of the period Leigh were content to hold onto the ball and wait for the inevitable gaps to appear in Keighley's defence.

The ease with which they scored their tries must give the Cougar coaching staff real cause for concern. Not because they have a young and lightweight side, but because the senior - stronger - players were among the first to accept the inevitability of defeat.

Paul Anderson side-stepped both Danny Fearon and James Rushforth with ease on his way to the line after 67 minutes to put his side 44-10 ahead. By then the game was clearly signed, sealed and delivered for Leigh and the Keighley's bright start was just a distant memory.

After five minutes Simeon Hoyle had charged away from a play-the-ball down the right side and slipped a perfect inside pass for Max Tomlinson to complete a determined run to the line.

For the second week Cougars started the game without a recognised goal kicker, but Fearon put the comfortable conversion between the posts.

He could not pull off a repeat after Matthew Steel had taken advantage of a ball which bounced back off a Leigh defender. It was Fearon who set up the scoring chance when he zipped a fast, flat pass across the line and he was also there to provide the grubber kick which bounced back into Steel's hands.

But the stand-in kicker screwed the conversion attempt well wide of the posts.

Between the two Cougar tries the home club had scored two in two minutes through Simon Svabic and Simon Baldwin, with Svabic adding both conversions to take the lead.

Cougars put themselves under pressure and after two dropouts from beneath the posts Baldwin added his second and Chris Morley went over to secure a 24-10 half time lead.

The Keighley side came out determined to put themselves back in the game with slick play and powered into the attack. A try might have made all the difference when Oliver Wilkes opted for a quick kick to touch from 10 yards out.

The idea was correct, the execution terrible.

His kick failed to find touch and as Paul Anderson crossed at the other end the Cougar bubble burst.

They had an opportunity to kick a penalty, but opted to run the ball and knocked-on at the first tackle. Once again Leigh raced back with Mark McCully adding the final touch and moments later Andy Isherwood gave the home team a 40-10 lead.

For 10 minutes both sides were down to 12 men with Phil Stephenson and Dave Bradbury sinbinned for fighting.

It was clearly all over, but the ease with which Anderson, Svabic and Isherwood took them past the critical 50-point mark was a sad indictment of a Keighley side which clearly wished the final hooter would put them out of their misery.

Then came that little piece of Marns magic that at last gave the handful of travelling fans something to celebrate.

His try gave a glimmer of hope that there may be better times ahead, but the entire team will have to step up their performance by several notches if they are not to be written off as a potential-packed team which failed to live up to its promise.