LEETON had to be content to walk away from its opening Creet Cup fixture with a gallant defeat after falling four runs short of West Wyalong at Mark Taylor Oval on Sunday.

The Wolves put up a good fight in the nail-biter, both with the ball to restrict the visitors to 166 and then with the bat through the middle order, but a string of three maidens and low-scoring overs at the death cruelled the chase.

Captain Brent Lawrence labelled the game as one that got away.

He said the opening stages of both innings put Leeton behind the eight ball.

"In the first 15 overs we didn't bowl with good control," Lawrence said.

"We rectified that in the 15 overs from 30 to 45, so there were pleasing signs and we lifted our intensity in the field.

"There were positive signs with the bat and the ball.

"I was impressed with the way Nathan Carn batted and he got great support from Burnsy (Mark Burns) and Jarryd Day as well. Those of us in the top order could take a leaf out of their book."

West Wyalong won the toss and chose to bat. Known for their hard-charging approach to the game, a more level-headed attack on the bowlers took some Leeton players by surprise.

However, the visitors still got off to strong start through Brett Davies (31), Craig Rees (17) and Jesse Hampton (59).

A 3-118 in the 27th over the score could have blown out, but that was when Leeton started tightening its lines and wickets started to fall at regular intervals.

After the top three, only A Edis (11) managed double figures as the visitors were bowled out for 166.

Opening bowlers Josh Carn (3-29) and Ben Elwin (3-39) picked up three wickets each, while Luke Rimmer bagged a pair (2-34), including Hampton, and Lawrence (1-19) got the crucial wicket of Davies.

Leeton's top three were the opposite of West Wyalong, producing an aggregate of nine runs.

However, Nathan Carn (52), Burns (32) and Day (22) provided drive in the middle order. Despite being on a roll, from over 34 to 40, Leeton could only score eight runs and lost the crucial Carn.

While the scoring did increase, Elwin (16) had to up the ante further and was dismissed at the death. That left Luke Rimmer the almost impossible task of hitting a six off the first ball he faced - the last of the innings - for victory.

Despite swinging hard, the ball was sent through to the keeper unhindered.

Lawrence said the game was a good learning curve for his captaincy as he gets his head around thinking of the players as his team mates, not the opponents they are at club level.

"You get a bit of a feel for the guys how they tick and their strengths," he said.

"When you play with them you need to know what motivates them to give their best."

The next round of the Creet Cup for Leeton is a road trip against Lake Cargelligo on December 7.

"I'm happy with the way we gelled (against West Wyalong), it will help with the season," Lawrence said.

"If we can keep the core group together it will help with consistency and our defence of the cup."