LEIGH Miners Rangers returned to winning ways with a 36-4 victory over West Hull.

Miners were back on song after defeats to Pilkington Recs and Hunslet Club Parkside and all but blunted a young and enthusiastic Wests side.

Both sides were missing influential players with Tommy Parkinson, Andrew Groves and Jimmy Muir absent for Miners alongside Brad Hargreaves whilst for Wests the in-form Ryan Steen and fullback Josh Nicklin were unavailable.

For the hosts, debutant Ryan Peters came in alongside Scott O’Brien in the halves and the pairing soon had Miners working slickly in attack.

The opening score came inside six minutes as Lee Gittins drove through the defence to touch down.

The lead was extended when O’Brien darted through, somehow dotting the ball down despite being smothered by defenders under the posts for Jonny Youds to add the extras, then two tries in five minutes before the half hour from veteran winger Gareth Paine had Miners in control.

The 18-0 score at the break meant Wests were still in touch, but a try three minutes into the second half ensured Miners’ victory as Peters’ kick through the defence bounced kindly for Connor Ratcliffe to gather and put Mort over.

Mitch Cox grabbed a try as he backed up Tom Farrimond’s break and dived over the line before Wests finally had their consolation when Jack Lazenby took a quick tapped penalty and drove over the whitewash.

Miners had the final word with O’Brien getting the ball inside his own twenty, cutting across field then sprinting down the left touchline past a number of despairing defenders before finding Youds and finally Paine to claim his first hat-trick for the club and round off a fine performance ahead of Saturday’s derby with Wigan St Patricks at Twist Lane.

The Alliance team enjoyed a fine 38-18 win in the curtain-raiser match against newcomers Manchester Rangers, whilst the under-18s turned in a tremendous display to beat previously-undefeated Thatto Heath 30-22 in the North West Youth Cup.

The women’s team lost out in the curtain raiser match at Bradford Bulls and lie seventh after five fixtures (2 wins, 1 draw, 2 defeats).