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

The 20-year-old sub was in action for only 36 minutes - but he triggered a rousing finale which saw Leigh race clear with four tries in the last quarter to thump Bramley 29-8.

Patel's delayed introduction caught the Yorkshire side on the hop. And they were unable to handle his vision or strength.

His vision helped set up three tries; his strength carried him through for the try 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.

"We've worked hard on our defensive patterns in recent weeks," said coach Keith Latham. "And in the last three games we've conceded only five tries. Before that 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.

That came from Mark Sarsfield, in at the corner after good work by John Gunning and Paul Daniel.

Early in the second half Chris Wilkinson and Patel worked a move to send Neil Jukes through a yawning gap for the second try.

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

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

With Bramley fading fast Patel held off three defenders to score by the posts and his 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 try 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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