Wigan St Pat's 28 Leigh Miners Rangers 18

THE Miners went down to their first defeat in four matches against local rivals Wigan St Pat's in a fiercely-contested local derby.

Down 18-2 after half an hour, the Miners were staring a heavy defeat in the face but a second half rally brought them back to within four points.

Pat's weathered the storm, however, and in a late flurry ensured their first win over the Miners for four years.

Miners got off to a bright start with Mark Hudspith's fourth minute penalty. But three Pat's tries in 30 minutes turned the game on its feat.

Firstly, Sean Mullaney used his strength to break five tacklers and crash over by the posts, Jason Fishwick converting. Soon afterwards Martin Goulding won the chase to Andy Hargreaves' kick through and the scoring burst was completed by Shaun Boylan with a third six-pointer. Miners rallied somewhat with Tommy Goulding's try from a Steve Flannery break before half time and although St Pat's increased their lead to 20-6 with a penalty soon after the interval, the comeback was on.

Lee Lomax burrowed over for a converted try and then with seven minutes left Mick Warburton shimmied his way over for a try he converted himself and at 22-18 the Miners were scenting an unlikely win.

But good defence and careless handling cost the Leigh side a victory chance. Instead St Pat's sealed their win in injury time as Fishwick kicked his third penalty and Rob McLoughlin crashed in for a try.

Tomorrow the Miners entertain Thornhill in the final home league game before Christmas, kick off 2.30pm.