YOUNG gun Safraz Patel made an explosive second half impact to fire Leigh right back into the thick of the Division Two promotion battle.

The 20-year-old substitute was only in action for 36 second half minutes but he triggered a rousing finale which saw Leigh race clear with four tries in the last quarter.

Patel's delayed introduction caught Bramley on the hop with the Headingley side unable to handle his vision or strength.

His vision helped set up three tries and his strength carried him through for the touch-down that slammed the door on any Bramley comeback.

Although they struggled to find any attacking rhythm until the final quarter, there can be no faulting Leigh's commitment in defence.

As coach Keith Latham later pointed out: "We've worked hard on our defensive patterns in recent weeks and in the last three games we've only conceded five tries. Before, we were shipping that many tries in per game.

"The lads put a lot of effort in against a good footballing side but I knew we were fitter and would finish strongly."

Territorially Leigh dominated from start to finish but a combination of missed chances and being on the wrong end of referee Nick Oddy's peculiar interpretation of the laws, saw Latham's team restricted to just one try before half time.

They were already 2-0 up thanks to Chris Wilkinson's early penalty when John Gunning put Paul Daniel away and his wide pass sent Mark Sarsfield skating in at the corner. Leigh looked like taking that lead into the break but with Wilkinson in the sin-bin, they found themselves short-handed and David Heron sent Andy Hinchcliffe in by the uprights for a try improved by Dean Creasser.

A Wilkinson penalty put Leigh ahead again in the 51st minute and soon afterwards Wilkinson and Patel worked a move to send Neil Jukes through a yawning gap and across for the second try.

When Stuart Donlan was put on report for a late challenge, Creasser's penalty briefly closed the gap.

The game could still have gone either way until Leigh finally re-discovered their attacking flair with three tries in the final 12 minutes.

Donlan's break and long passes from Patel and Gunning saw Bramley out-flanked and David hill flew in at the corner.

Wilkinson's drop goal made it 17-8 and with Bramley fading fast Patel held off three defenders to score by the posts and give Wilkinson an easy conversion.

Patel's alertness saw him deftly gather a chip over the top on the half volley and find the supporting Gunning who burst clear to the posts for the final six pointer in the last minute.

Leigh: Hill, Burrows, Blackburn (Patel 44), Donlan, Sarsfield (O'Loughlin 25), Gunning, Wilkinson, Street, Jenkins, Pucill (Costello 60), Liku (McGughan 22), Daniel, Jukes.

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