Kieron Purtill disappointed with Leigh’s defence in defeat to Featherstone
Leigh caretaker coach Kieron Purtill says their goal-line defence needs to improve if they are to pick up wins anytime soon.
The Centurions were 20-14 up at half time but the Rovers turned it around in the second half, winning 38-30 at the Leigh Sports Village on Sunday afternoon.
And Purtill thought Leigh let themselves down with their goal-line defence.
Speaking after the game, he said: “We’re disappointed with the result. We have put a lot of pressure back on ourselves at the moment because we came up with a positive but didn’t back it up with another positive.
“Our steel in defence on our try-line wasn’t good enough so we have got to dust ourselves down again this week and work hard in training and put some things right.
“You can’t score that many points and let that many in. We will sharpen up on some of our skill and have a real focus this week on defending our try-line.
“There was a lot of effort. There were some big efforts from Harrison Hansen and Micky (Higham) did well coming off the bench so the effort was there but we need to be smarter and have that steel not to give up to easy which I think, at times, we did on our try-line.”
Featherstone vice-captain Martyn Ridyard put in a stand-out performance against his former club on his first ever time as a visitor at the Leigh Sports Village.
And Purtill said Ridyard ‘proved a point’ to the Centurions.
He added: “He played really well.
“He is a smart footballer, kicks the ball really well and gets his team around the park.
“He came back with a point to prove and he has proved it so you have got to give him the plaudits for that one.
“Defensively, we didn’t handle it good enough so we’ll have a look at what we did rather than what Ridy (Ridyard) did this week.”
Ben Reynolds had his leg in a brace after the game and Purtill revealed that the medical department will assess him further this week.
Purtill also confirmed that hooker Daniel Mortimer will be ruled out for eight to ten weeks.
