RUNCORN found themselves out of the FA Cup despite dominating large parts of the game and making the greater quantity and quality of chances.

A 38th minute Joe Evans goal for Leigh is all that separated the sides.

The two best chances of the first half fell to Rob Whyte and Ged Courtney on 16 and 19 minutes respectively.

Firstly Whyte capitalised on a mix-up in the Leigh defence and went clean through only to side foot wide.

When an attempted headed clearance rebounded off Matthew Atherton three minutes later, Courtney swivelled to shoot but didn’t quite connect with his left foot volley from six yards.

The only goal of the game came on 37 minutes courtesy of Joe Evans.

Adam Strode crossed for Paul Hopkins who should have scored himself, but was denied by the legs of Priestley. Runcorn had no luck with the rebound when it fell to Evans to drill home with the help of the post.

The second half wasn’t quite as frantic, but Runcorn still had their fair share of chances with attacks on Phil Priestley’s goal limited. The longer the half went on the more Leigh appeared to be happy to stick with the goal they had.