LEIGH are urging their fans to hit the road and turn out in force for Sunday's promotion showdown with Carlisle.

Three successive victories have resurrected their promotion chances. And a victory at Gilford Park would guarantee Leigh a share of second place, setting things up nicely for the final run-in.

Coach Keith Latham believes a healthy following from Leigh could be a decisive factor. "Make no mistake about it, Carlisle's ground is a pretty inhospitable place to go," he said. "So the more Leigh fans who make the trip the better our chances of winning will be.

"The players certainly respond when the crowd is right behind them, just as they did against Rochdale. I know it's a long trek up to Carlisle but, on behalf of the players, I would ask fans to make the effort.

"It could be just that little extra encouragement from the terraces that does the trick."

Latham feels Leigh are now right back in the thick of the promotion battle and reckons his youthful team have begun to answer their critics.

"Some people have been saying this is the worst team Leigh have ever had," he said. "That's absolute nonsense.

"Bad teams don't turn over top-of-the-table sides as comprehensively as we did on Sunday. We don't pretend to be a great side. What we are is a team in the middle of a re-building programme.

"To make comparisons with the 1981-82 championship winning side is totally unfair.

"I would love to have players of the calibre of Des Drummond, John Woods and Steve Donlan in my team today, but these days smaller clubs find it nearly impossible to hang onto their star players. Such is the attraction of Super League.

"We are still investing heavily in our youth policy, and, given time, it will bear fruit.

"You need only look at the youngsters in the current squad to see the tremendous depth of talent we have. Stuart Donlan, Paul Blackburn, Mark Burrows, Scott Hilton, Safraz Patel and Barry Burgess have all tasted first team action this season.

"The Alliance side also contains a number of promising youngsters such as Dean Conway, Ian Hudspith, Paul Miller and Martin Goulding while the current Academy squad will provide us with more future professionals.

"We need to be patient while this fine crop of youngsters develop to their full potential."

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.