LEIGH Miners Rangers maintained pole position in the NCL Premier Division title race with a 32-22 victory at local rivals Wigan St Patrick's.

The league leaders won the Battle of the Borough for the third time this season to remain two points above second-placed Rochdale Mayfield with four matches remaining.

The short trip to Wigan mirrored the tight battle in the reverse league fixture rather than the Miners' cup romp.

St Pats showed great resilience, overturning a 16-6 half-time deficit to twice claim narrow leads in a see-saw second half before the visitors sealed victory with two tries in the final 10 minutes.

Danny Jackson and Scott O'Brien returned from injury to combine in the build-up to the Leigh side's opening try, with Jonny Youds laying on the final pass for Andrew Groves to run in a six-pointer.

Jonny Brown steamed in to level the scores before the Miners' Connor Ratcliffe had to leave the pitch due to an ankle injury.

Brad Hargreaves, the Miners' leading scorer, powered over out wide to put them back in front before adding a second before the break.

St Pats came out firing after the break as a double from Simon Atherton gave them the lead for the first time.

But O'Brien bounced off the tackles to dart through and put the Miners back in front as the game became nip and tuck.

A breakaway try from Tyler Spence gave the home side a two-point lead going into the final 15 minutes and Liam Gannon was denied a further try for a forward pass.

That might have been too much for Miners to recover from but they were back ahead with five minutes remaining when Darryl Kay forced his way over from close range.

In the final minute, Miners iced the cake as three drives to the line gave the position for Jimmy Muir to scoot over.

Miners entertain reigning champions West Hull on Saturday, kick off 2.30pm.