Leigh Genesis 2 Wakefield 0

As they head for pastures new at Crilly Park next season, Leigh Genesis signed off their tenure at the Leigh Sports Village Stadium in style as Garry Flitcroft's side finished the season with a comfortable 2-0 win over Wakefield.

With Steven Drench still carrying an injury, youngster Dean Porter remained in goal after making his first league appearance of the season in the controversial 2-1 win over Salford City in midweek, while Dale Whitham returned to the starting line up less than 24 hours after turning out for the England Schools Under 18's side in their Centenary Shield clash against Scotland at Carlisle United's Brunton Park ground on Friday night.

Leigh started brightly and found a lot of success down the flanks but came up against some desperate Wakefield defending to to clear away a succession of crosses in to the box with Genesis players almost queuing up in the penalty area, with the home side somehow failing to challenge Jan Zolna in the Wakefield goal, with only a Jack Dorney shot dragged wide being of any real note.

The second half saw Leigh immediately show more initiative in attack, Ilie Morariu heading a Tom Ince free kick inches wide of the post with less than a minute played after the restart.

Jack Dorney and Tom Ince have been two shining lights throughout Leigh's season playing on either flank, and they combined to put their side in front on fifty one minutes when Dorney threaded through a wonderful pass for Ince to race on to a calmly slot past Zolna for his fifteenth goal of the season.

Wakefield thought that they were back in the game just two minutes later when they had the ball in Porter's net, only for their celebrations to be cut short by the referee's assistant signalling for an offside decision.

Dorney wasted a glorious opportunity to double Leigh's lead on fifty six minutes when Zolna's goal kick landed straight at his feet and gave him a chance to hare clear on goal, but he rather snapped at his shot rather than taking his time to pick his spot and drilled the ball wide of goal from the edge of the area.

Top scorer Jordan Stepien was introduced from the substitute's bench for Morariu, and he forced Zolna in to a terrific save on sixty two minutes when he unleashed a stinging strike from distance that nearly caught Zolna out before for him instinctively diverting the ball away for a corner with his legs.

Stepien didn't have to wait long for his twenty first goal of the season though, with it arriving on sixty six minutes when fellow substitute Leroy Chinthengah beat the Wakefield offside trap and broke through on goal. Chinthengah tried to take the ball around Zolna, who managed to get his hand to the ball but only divert it straight to the feet of Stepien, who made no mistake in rolling the ball in to an empty net.

Ince thought he'd got a second goal on seventy minutes when he swept home the rebound after Zolna had spilled a powerful Dorney shot, but referee's assistant P Nurse ruled that Ince did so from an offside position.

Andy Heald was brought from the field to a standing ovation and Leigh were left to reflect on a successful season, despite the uncertainty surrounding the club during the winter, whilst also thinking of what might have been having come so close to securing a play-off place.

Leigh Genesis; Dean Porter, Lee Woodyatt, Kris King, Mark Ross, Karl Munroe, Dale Whitham (Leroy Chinthengah), Jack Dorney, Steve Flitcroft, Tom Ince, Ilie Morariu (Jordan Stepien), Andy Heald (David Hill)