Last updated at 11:26, Friday, 15 February 2013

Whitehaven missed out on going top of the Championship table last night after kicker Jamie Rooney’s attempted conversion of a late try against title-chasing Leigh Centurions fell narrowly wide.

Whitehaven's Neil Thorman tries to find a way through

Jessie Joe Parker’s 77th-minute touch down had given Haven hope of finishing within the 12 required for a bonus point, but the hosts went down 28-14 at the Recreation Ground.

The bonus would have put Haven on seven league points, one more than unbeaten pair Featherstone and Halifax, who both have a game in hand.

But boss Dave Woods was unsure if his side merited a point from the match.

“We could have taken a bonus point, but did we deserve one?” he said. “Maybe not. Maybe we did but we conceded too many soft tries.

“We can’t fault the effort and commitment, it was good. It’s just the execution and play at the back end of sets was very poor. We were too lateral in attack and our line speed wasn’t there.

“Our kicking game needs a lot of work because it is not great at the moment.”

The Leigh clash came just five days after Haven beat Keighley on a heavy pitch at Cougar Park and Woods questioned whether that win had taken its toll last night.

“Whether we were a little jaded from last week, I don’t know. I need to look at that and fix it,” said the coach, who lauded the performance of his full-back Neil Thorman, the official man of the match.

“Neil was outstanding at the back, again, as was Paul Jackson in the front-row. He did a lot of good work.”

Haven were out-scored by only five tries to three, winger Craig Calvert crossing twice for his side, and Woods believes the Centurions are set for another good season.

Leigh boss Paul Rowley believes Haven have potential. “They will come good,” he predicted. “They were third in the league coming in to tonight’s game.”

The game kicked off 45 minutes late due to a partial floodlight failure caused by an electrical fault outside the Recre.

First published at 11:23, Friday, 15 February 2013
Published by http://www.newsandstar.co.uk