LEIGH dropped to the foot of the North One West table after falling to their ninth straight defeat of the season.

A 22-10 loss at mid-table Vale of Lune ensured they continue to search their first victory of the campaign, with a home match against eighth-placed Rochdale to come this Saturday.

Conditions hampered Leigh latest quest for victory as they struggled in the face of a gale force wind in the second half after putting in a very creditable performance before the break.

Leigh stood firm in the face of a wave of attacks in the opening 15 minutes, conceding just three points from a penalty.

They then dominated the remainder of the half.

A masterful chip through by Rob Drake was pounced on by Kieran Duffy to score wide out on the left in the 25th minute. Drake narrowly missed the conversion.

The pressure intensified for the remainder of the half but Leigh could not add any more points as they went into the break leading 5-3.

Vale came out in a more determined mood and the elements changed to give them a big advantage.

The wind picked up from behind their backs and the rain pelted down as Leigh found it hard to get out of their half.

Vale drove over for a converted try after 49 minutes and quickly added a penalty to their tally on 55 minutes.

A pushover try quickly followed, which was also converted.

From the restart, Leigh got deep into the Vale half and after good approach work, Drake floated a magnificent long ball out to Ollie Shepherd on the right wing for him to scamper in for a brilliant unconverted try that proved to be the final score for both sides.