Leigh Genesis 0 Atherton Colls 1

AN inspired goalkeeping performance from stopper Josh Harris saw Leigh Genesis crash out of their third cup competition inside a week with a shock home defeat to neighbours Atherton Collieries.

After cup defeats to Skelmersdale United in the President's Cup as well as Norton and Stockton Ancients in the FA Cup in the past week, Genesis boss Mark Maddox chose to maintain a degree of rotation for the Lancashire FA Co-operative Challenge Trophy first round encounter at Crilly Park on Tuesday night.

James Olsen and academy graduates Craig Carney and James Carey were all handed full debuts, while defender Steve Brockley continued his return to full fitness.

Against a Collieries side that are flying high in pole position in the Vodkat League First Division and fielding a trio of ex-Leigh players in skipper Andy Walker and youngsters Joe Fielding and Rob Farrington, the two sides battled out a particularly feisty clash.

Leigh went in front on 35 minutes when Farrington dragged down John Lawless in the penalty area and, although Lawless still managed to get a shot away that beat Josh Harris and hit the back of the net, the referee had already blown for the penalty, with Lawless duly picking himself up to despatch the spot kick.

For the second game in succession, Genesis goalkeeper Adam Judge conceded and, in turn, saved a penalty, this time from Steve Wallace.

Colls did equalise on 55 minutes when front man Kevin Kynaston played in Paul Shanley and he made no mistake in slotting the ball past Judge.

Disaster struck for Leigh on 63 minutes when the referee awarded a third penalty of the game after Gareth Peet went down in the area under a challenge from Joe Evans.

Shanley stepped up to the spot and made no mistake in sending Judge the wrong way.

Leigh were a whisker away from equalising minutes when Steve Brockley met an Evans corner with a thumping header only for Harris to tip the ball over the crossbar with a terrific save.

Craig Ward cleared the ball off the line at the back post just as it seemed Harris was beaten for the second time.

Harris then came up with another class save to keep out a Lawless free kick even allowing for a slight deflection off his defensive wall.

Tom Obasi created another opening for Lawless only for his strike to crash against Harris' right hand post.

A game that had threatened to spill over finally reached boiling point with only a couple of minutes remaining when Evans conceded a free kick for hassling Jonathan Bridge from behind while in possession, prompting a furious reaction from Peet that led to him going for an early bath.

Leigh Genesis; Adam Judge, Scott Sephton, Danny Lyons, Simon Pendlebury (Carl Forrester 59), Steve Brockley, Craig Carney, Brodie Kearns (Tom Obasi 69), James Olsen (Joe Evans 46), John Lawless, James Carey, Adam Strode. Subs (not used); James Bell, Nick Eastham.

* Leigh are back in cup action at Crilly Park on Saturday when league rivals Garforth Town, who are reportedly targeting England legend Paul Gascoigne as their new manager, are the visitors for an FA Trophy preliminary round clash that kicks off at 3pm.