LEIGH Miners Rangers made it two wins from two in the league when they battled past a tough Rochdale Mayfield in atrocious conditions at Twist Lane.

The home side made three changes from the team that comfortably beat Oxford in the Ladbrokes Challenge Cup the previous weekend.

And they suffered the worst possible start, Lewis Sheridan racing over for Mayfield after the visitors retrieved the ball from a short kick-off.

Miners hit back after 10 minutes, though, with loose forward Connor Ratcliffe getting on the end of a neat Scott O’Brien grubber kick and Jonny Youds adding the extras.

And they extended their lead five minutes later when left centre Brad Hargreaves powered over out wide.

Hargreaves went over again and a Youds conversion gave them a 16-4 lead at half time.

Mayfield stormed back to within two points of Miners at the start of the second half when Liam Whalley and Lewis Sheridan ran in for tries and ex-Centurion Sam Butterworth added one conversion.

The visitors had fared better as the heavens opened at the start of the second half, but Miners gathered themselves and scrum half Scott O’Brien dropped his shoulder to go through the Mayfield defence and send Ratcliffe sliding in under the posts for his second of the afternoon.

Youds landed the simple conversion before slotting over two penalty goals in the final 10 minutes to make sure of the victory.

The points moved Miners up to second place in the NCL Premier Division ahead of the Easter break.

Their next match, on Sunday, April 19 will be an historic one as the club competes in the Challenge Cup fifth round for the first time when they face York City Knights at Leigh Sports Village, kick off 2pm.

The Alliance team shared the spoils at local rivals Golborne Parkside, with the derby match finishing 28-28.