West Bowling 24, Leigh East 40

West Bowling's fragile defence out wide saw them slide to defeat against a speedy Leigh East outfit in their National Conference League Premier Division clash at the Bankfoot Oval.

Bowling made a dreadful start when East's wingman Steve Cooper strode over unopposed in the corner and was soon followed by a solo effort from centre Liam Rawson, who caught the home rearguard napping to race clear.

West's prop Danny Murgatroyd unluckily lost the ball just two metres out on their first sortie into visiting territory but when stand-off Danny Kilshaw fired a long pass to the flank, centre Carl Redford cantered to the chalk.

Second-row forward Dave Radley added his second conversion to give Leigh a hefty 16-0 lead.

On came the cavalry in the shape of forwards Ricky Helliwell and Nathan Hadfield to inspire Bowling.

Hadfield took charge of the ruck, which allowed scrum half Steve Illingworth the opportunity to send Helliwell steaming over by the posts.

Loose forward Adie Leek then joined the party to side-step three defenders on the last tackle for a cracking try, which, together with two conversions from full back Lee Innes, put West's back in contention at 16-14 down with just seven minutes left in the half.

The visitors, however, shrugged off the fightback when substitute Gary Greenwood forced his way over at the side of the uprights, and a long kick to the corner found no one at home to gift Radford his second.

Bowling, trailing 28-14, had it all to do in the second stanza and the task looked even more daunting when Redford posted his hat-trick.

Bowling centre Danny Ramsden picked up a loose ball to put stand-off Gareth Cullerton weaving to the whitewash and Innes slotted over the extra two.

A planned move behind the scrum gave Helliwell the chance for Illingworth to cross on the blind side to close the gap to 32-24.

The turning point of the match came when home winger Ben White collected a kick through and was felled by a Kilshaw high tackle.

He was led from the field with the claret streaming from his mouth and Bowling were clearly incensed when Kilshaw escaped punishment with only a penalty being awarded.

Later Kilshaw crossed in silence from a blatant knock-on as the crowd showed their disapproval at his continued presence to leave a sour conclusion to what had been a first-rate encounter.