LEIGH Miners Rangers went down to a narrow defeat in a tense battle at Wath Brow Hornets as the top three in the Premier Division are now separated by just three points.

A youthful Miners team, who featured three under-18s in debutants Will Ashworth and Todd Fenlon alongside Jake Lloyd, battled hard throughout to trail 10-6 at the interval with a try for Lee Gittins converted by Jonny Youds, and although Darryl Kay’s try kept them very much in contention in the second half the Cumbrian team held on to secure a 16-10 victory, of significance besides the league points as they will take a six point advantage into the second leg of the Steve Prescott Charity Shield match when the two sides meet again at Twist Lane in early July.

The Alliance team lost ground in the NWCL Division Two promotion race as Pilkington Recs leapfrogged them into second place with a 30-22 win at Twist Lane, the damage done in the first half although a spirited fightback led by Garry Fitzmartin almost had Miners back into the game.

The under-18s were awarded the points against Leyland Warriors whilst the women’s team won 30-16 at Selby.

This weekend only the first team are at home, facing Egremont Rangers in a 2.30pm kick off at Twist Lane (Saturday).

The Alliance travel to Oldham St Annes whilst on Sunday the women are away at Wigan St Patricks and the under-18s have their eagerly-anticipated cup semi-final away at higher division side Blackbrook.

Leigh East’s centre Sam Grainey played for the BARLA Lions’ 46-0 win over Jamaica in Kingston.

Meanwhile, back home East bounced back in the league in fine style, taking full advantage of a depleted Stanley Rangers side to eventually run out 96-6 point winners.

Josh Adi grabbed a hat-trick, Andrew Ball dominated the middle with four tries of his own and Tom Worthington kicked 16 out of 16 to cap a fine afternoon.

East are at home to Blackbrook on Saturday in the National Conference League Division Two fixture. Kick off is 2.30pm.