85/86 to 86/7 seasons : Sun Jan 06, 2019 4:05 pm  

1) 85/6 Althoughthe loss of Woods left a massive hole, Murphy covered this position by signing underrated uttility player John Kerr and Trevor Cogger a stand off from Australia. Added to this, there were stalwarts like Jeff Clarke, Des Drummond, Phil Fox, Derek Pyke and Ray Tabern, and also astute signings from local amateur teams like John Henderson, Tony Cottrell and Chris Johnson. But the icing on the cake was the signing of Steve Halliwell, who had been out for a year injured in Aussie. A one season wonder, he not only broke the Leigh record for scoring tries in. season, he also set a world record of 48 tries in the centre position. This side was far to good for the 2nd division with pace to burn, and won 33 out of 34 matches with 1,156 points scored in those games.
Highlights included an upset win over Widnes in the JPT trophy 35-31 in front of over 8,000 at H.P., and a brave display against Hull KR in the 3rd round of the Challenge Cup infrint if 7,925. Then on a cool Wednesday evening in late April at Hilton Park I saw anther record as Keighley were hammered 92-2, with Halliwell crossing for 5 tries and Johnson kicking 14 goals and a try.
Chris Johnson kicked an amazing 171 goals and proved a worthy successor to Woody in the goalkicking stakes, while apart from Halliwell, Fix scored 29, Drummond 21, Jerr 16 and Johnson 14. As for Alex., he left again mid season for another big brother in St. Helens, but Tommy Dickens proved a more than able deputy.
2) 86/87 Bacm in the first division proved to be very tough with only 3 wins in the first 13 matches which saw arch rivals Wigan complete a double without conceding a point, losing 35-0 and 31-0!! But then a change of coach to Billy Benyon saw an amazing revival. In the Challenge cup, a run to the semi final included a superb 12 -8 at Hull. This meant a meeting with Saints at Wigan, and one of may worst disappointments, when winger Ian McCulloch looked a certain scorer in the corner, when Barrie Ledger came out of nkwrer to nab him just short of the line. We went on to lose by just 14-8, but meanwhile the league form was picking up to the extent that 8 of the l ast 11 games were won, including a last match of the season at Wilderspool, still needing victory to stay up. This was a clever with 2 Henderson tries and a Johnson goals.
Yet again Chris Johnson starred with 84 goals and John Henderson crossed over for a very creditable 27 tries in the first division, as we eventually finished 10th.
T

Re: 85/86 to 86/7 seasons : Mon Jan 07, 2019 1:39 pm  

Those last few re arranged games of 86/87 where when i really caught the bug as a 14 year old so much so that I not only went to games but went to HP twice a week or to Leigh CE to watch the lads Train and also to the A team games.
Billy Benyon did a great job in those early days and so me of the signings you mentioned where a lot better than the teams performances on occasions.
Who remembers Big Dave Evans side stepping ex GB Fullback Mick Burke at Watersheddings and going 40 yard?
The trouble on the pitch and the terraces after the Warrington win, If you can ever get hold of the Warrington Video of that game it is Comedy Gold the commentator calling TC a cheat all the way through
Some of my favourite memories in this season and the ones just after
I await you recollections of these with interest.

Re: 85/86 to 86/7 seasons : Mon Jan 07, 2019 9:27 pm  

Was the Widnes win at Naught on Park and Dessi hat trick ? Got stuffed by Wigan in the Semis but Foxy scored a peach.

Through greedy sod who got tackled was John Henderson who repaid the debt by scoring at Warrington to keep us up. That last game of the season was my favourite ever Leigh win with our fans going crazy. Did the double over Wire that season too

Re: 85/86 to 86/7 seasons : Tue Jan 08, 2019 10:48 am  

Snowy wrote:

Was the Widnes win at Naught on Park and Dessi hat trick ? Got stuffed by Wigan in the Semis but Foxy scored a peach.

Through greedy sod who got tackled was John Henderson who repaid the debt by scoring at Warrington to keep us up. That last game of the season was my favourite ever Leigh win with our fans going crazy. Did the double over Wire that season too

Yes Dessie did get hatrick at Widnes, and it might have been Henderson. All I remember was it was on our right wing and was either right centre Henderson or right wing McCulloch who incidentally scored our only try.

Re: 85/86 to 86/7 seasons : Tue Jan 08, 2019 11:54 pm  

CHEADLE LEYTHER wrote:

Yes Dessie did get hatrick at Widnes, and it might have been Henderson. All I remember was it was on our right wing and was either right centre Henderson or right wing McCulloch who incidentally scored our only try.

It was Cully who scored right in the right corner, and Chris Johnson landed the conversion to get us back in it. Saints should have been 30 ahead at half time, but we pummelled them second half and the half was scoreless.

I don't know why Henderson went for the line as Cully was amazingly up there to support John (Lets be honest, Hendo could shift) but that team played wonderfully well and could have made the final. Highlights can be found on you tube I believe. What made it worse is that he lost the ball s Cully would have just picked it up from the PTB and scoot under the posts.

The Championship was a great League that season and was the true beginning of Wigan being a FT phenomenon. They had a fantastic side. I remember finishing my game for Leigh Juniors to arrive on a very hot day an hour before kick off with Hilton Park already packed. We lost 35-0 I think, but was impressed with Ian Schubert and one of my favourite ever players, Mike Davis. Wigan was unstoppable.

The crowd announced as 12361 and I must say it was the biggest crowd I have ever seen at HP. There must have been at least 15000 on to watch Hanley, Edwards and Lydon run amoc.

We deserved to stay up, and won 5 or our last 6 with Henderson scoring the only 2 tries of our win at Wilderspool on what I think was Easter Monday ? I remember getting the bus as a 12 year old to Warrington with some friends from Wigan Rd. (You cant do that nowadays !!) Tony Cottrell was outstanding in that game.

We had some great battles with Saints that season who got pipped by Halifax in the the CC final after defeating us in the Semis ? The closest we will ever get to winning the CC in my lifetime I think !

Re: 85/86 to 86/7 seasons : Fri Jan 11, 2019 9:35 pm  

The game at Wilderspool was a real nail-biter. Fantastic feeling at the end to stay up.

Re: 85/86 to 86/7 seasons : Wed Jan 16, 2019 6:38 am  

pek wrote:

The game at Wilderspool was a real nail-biter. Fantastic feeling at the end to stay up.

Yep, staying up having won around 13 league games !!!

That would be top 8 in Supa Dooper League !!!

If anyone can get a copy of that game at Warrington that kept us up, PM me. It would bring back some wonderful memories.