Wigan St Pat's 12 Leigh Miners 8: TWO tries in as many minutes from BARLA Under 21 international stand-off Shaun Boylan made sure it was St Pat's who came up smiling in this gripping local derby.

Boylan's double strike came in the first quarter and provided the home side with just enough of a lead to defend.

The Miners thought they'd snatched at least a draw when Craig Graham got over in the corner in the last minute but the Miners own touchjudge, Alan Marsh, spotted the winger had put a foot in touch before scoring.

Menace

Boylan was a constant menace to the Miners as well as the power of ex-Leigh Centurions pair Dave Jones and Shaun Bannister.

The Miners, on the other hand, have won once on their travels this season, but the introduction of the experienced trio of Mark Sarsfield, Mark Meadows and Mick Warburton looked like rescuing a game that at one stage they appeared to be going to lose heavily.

St Pat's took a 13th minute lead when Boylan touched down at the side of the posts after good work from Bannister and Andy Rasburn. Jamie Winrow added the extras.

The Miners kicked out on the full from the restart and from the resultant penalty Boylan sliced through for a 10-0 lead.

Subs Sarsfield, Meadows and Warburton slowly began to turn the tide and they should have scored when Warburton put Chris Flynn away but he was halted by a fine cover tackle from Damien Charnock with support all round him.

Warburton's promptings finally did the trick in the second half. Ghosting through a gap, he found Tommy Goulding in support and his pass sent Mark Hudspith over.

When Hudspith powered over in the corner for a second try, the deficit was cut to just two points before a Winrow penalty made it a gap of four.

The Miners had the chances to win it. Jones tackled Graham into touch at the corner; Graham was brought back for a forward pass; Matt Irwin knocked on with the line open and then there was Graham's last minute disallowed effort.