Leigh Miners 32 v 28 West Hull
Leigh Miners made it through to the fourth round of the Ladbrokes Challenge Cup yesterday afternoon when they beat West Hull 32-28 in an absolute thriller of a cup tie at Twist Lane, the contest being played in front of a healthy crowd in warm conditions and was certainly a game of two halfs with Miners being outstanding in the first half leading 28-10, to be then looking like throwing it away in the second, after West Hull showed the champion side they are to come back and level things at 28-28 with five minutes remaining, only to be denied what would have been a stunning comeback when Miners winger Bud Skinkis dived over in the corner in the last minute to put Miners in the next round.
The home side made a perfect start to the game when they scored in the first minute of the match, right centre Adam Thomason breaking from inside his own half to race down field and send in full back Jonny Youds to score and give the score 4-0. Miners scored a second try on thirteen minutes when left winger Bud Skinkis went over in the corner and that was followed by a try on twenty minutes by prop Darryl Kay, Jonny Youds converting both tries from out wide to increase the score to 16-0. With Miners running hot still completing at 100% they scored a fourth try again soon after out wide on the left, centre Brad Hargreaves going over with Youds again converting off the touchline to make it 22-0. West Hull got themselves on the scoreboard on the half hour mark when Callum King got on the end of a Brett Turner grubber kick to score out wide on the left, Wests where in again a couple of minutes later when winger Chris Whinn got on the end of a cross field kick to score in the right corner, Josh Hart converting off the touchline to make the scores 22-10. Miners scored a fifth try right on half time when Tony Doyle got on the end of a Scott O'Brien chip kick to score at the side of the posts, Youds converting to put Miners 28-10 in front going into the sheds at the break.
With Miners being on top and controlling the game in the first half it was West Hull who controlled the second half with them coming out strong after the break, scoring early on through winger Dillon Price to make the score 28-14. The score stayed like that until just after the hour mark when the visitors hit Miners with a quick fire double, the first try coming from full back Brett Turner who scored at the side of the posts and that was quickly followed by a try from Ben Arbon who raced the length of the field after Miners threw out a poor pass attacking the West Hull line. With the score now at 28-24 all the momentum was with Wests and when they tied the game up at 28-28 with five minutes remaining thanks to a second try for winger Chris Whinn, it looked like last years all conquering side would go on and complete a remarkable comeback in the closing minutes. Any chance of West Hull winning the game where ended right on full time when Miners won the ball back and scored in the corner, Bud Skinkis scoring the winning try to send Miners into the fourth round for the first time since 1999.
MINERS TEAM = Jonny Youds, Harry Gagen, Brad Hargreaves, Adam Thomason, Bud Skinkis, Tony Doyle, Scott O'Brien, Matt Astley, Danny Jones, Darryl Kay, Tommy Parkinson, Ellis Grimes, Connor Ratcliffe, Subs = Shaun Dowie, Mike O'Boyle, Martin Gray, Tom Farrimond
MINERS MOM = Scott O'Brien
WESTS TEAM = Brett Turner, Chris Whinn, Matt Plumber, Callum King, Dillon Price, Ben Arbon, Scott Partis, Ash Shaw, Callum Windley, Aiden Morton, Jamie Edwards, Tom Radley, Ryan Steen, Subs = Josh Hart, Lee Roberts, Ben Parker, Calvin Parker
WESTS MOM = Ryan Steen
