Trafford 4 Leigh Genesis 1

Mark Maddox's Leigh Genesis side are still searching for their first win of the Evo-Stik League Division One North season after hosts Trafford consigned Leigh to their fourth consecutive league defeat, with only an FA Cup win over Runcorn Linnets to show for their efforts so far.

In that Bank Holiday loss, Leigh made a solid start to the game but that certainly wasn't in evidence at Shawe View when Genesis saw an attacking position turn in to a one goal deficit within three minutes of the game beginning.

Paul Williams drifted a free kick towards the Trafford penalty area, but it was effectively intercepted and the ball delivered over the top of the Leigh defence for Trafford front man Scott Barlow to outpace centre back Scott Sephton and slot the ball past Barlow.

With Lawless back in the side, it meant a return to a 4-4-2 formation with the former Marine striker playing alongside Kieran Molyneux in attack, and it was Lawless who came within a whisker of grabbing an equaliser on nine minutes when he saw a header towards goal wonderfully palmed on to the crossbar by Trafford goalkeeper Chris Rowley from point blank range.

A miscued clearance from James Bell seemed to put Trafford in the clear on nineteen minutes, but with Barlow bearing down on goal, he was wonderfully denied by a brave save at his feet by his namesake in the Leigh goal.

Trafford did manage to extend their lead on thirty two minutes when Barlow was beaten to a free kick and his defence almost statue-like in the penalty area, with Tommy Turner quickest to react to the rebound and sweep the ball in to an empty net with Barlow helpless on the ground.

Lawless was proving Leigh's best threat in front of goal, and he went close again on forty two minutes with a fierce volley at the back post from a Williams free kick that dipped just over the bar, with the hosts retaining their two goal lead at the break.

The first chance of the second half almost inevitably fell at the feet of Lawless when he hooked a Paul Hopkins cross narrowly wide of the target on fifty minutes, but the hosts reacting merely by extending their lead just a minute later, albeit in bizarre circumstances when Barlow appeared to be wrong-footed by a long throw in to the penalty area, leaving himself vulnerable enough for Cedric Krou to nudge the ball between his legs and in to the net.

The two sides met in a hastily-arranged friendly last month, with Trafford racing in to a 3-0 only to be eventually pegged back to 3-2 by the final whistle, and slim hopes of a similar Leigh comeback were raised on fifty nine minutes when they finally managed to find a way past Rowley when Lawless curled a wonderful left-footed free kick in to the bottom right hand corner of the net from twenty five yards out.

However, it took only seven minutes for Trafford to restore their three goal lead when Barlow clipped in his second of the afternoon from the left hand side, with Maddox responding by taking off player/assistant manager Gary Scott and replacing him with Joe Evans.

Molyneux virtually epitomised Leigh's frustration on sixty nine minutes when Lawless played him in with a delightful through ball, only for Molyneux to freeze when trying to lift the ball over Rowley and leave the goalkeeper with a simple block to divert the ball away for a corner.

Tom Obasi had entered the fray as a fifty seventh minute substitute for Chris Dykes, and he almost forced Trafford in to an own goal on seventy eight minutes when he did well to get to the bye-line on the left hand side of the penalty area and cut the ball back towards the six yard box, when Chris Lawton nudged the ball back towards his own goal and spared only by a fantastic low Rowley save to push the ball wide for a corner.

Obasi, an England Futsal international, showed the skills needed in the shortened version of the eleven-a-side game in a great dribbling run on eighty two minutes, beating a pair of Trafford defenders before rolling the ball on for Hopkins to strike towards goal, again being denied by a save from Rowley.

The final say of the game went to the hosts on eighty three minutes when Barlow was beaten by an audacious flighted shot from thirty yards that thumped against the crossbar, with Turner sending the rebound back towards goal, only for it to be cleared off the line by Scott Sephton.

The defeat leaves Leigh disappointingly at the foot of the Evo-Stik League Division One North table as the only side yet to collect any points ahead of Tuesday's visit to Crilly Park of Garforth Town, who themselves have only collected one point from four games so far, for a 7.45pm kick off, before next Saturday (11th September, 3pm) sees an FA Cup First Qualifying Round tie away to Vodkat Premier League side Rossendale United.

Leigh Genesis; Denis Barlow, Danny Lyons, Paul Williams, James Bell, Scott Sephton, Andy Heald, Paul Hopkins, Gary Scott (Joe Evans 66), John Lawless, Kieran Molyneux (Nick Eastham 72), Chris Dykes (Tom Obasi 57)