LEIGH Centurions are urging their fans to hit the road and turn out in force for Sunday's promotion showdown with Carlisle Raiders.

With three successive victories, culimating in their toppling of leaders Rochdale, resurrecting their promotion chances, Leigh know just how vital a win is at Gilford Park this weekend.

Victory would guarantee Leigh a share of second place in the table and set things up nicely for the final run-in.

But coach Keith Latham believes a healthy following from Leigh could be a decisive factor.

"Make no mistake about it, Carlisle's ground is a pretty inhospitable place to go. So the more Leigh fans that make the trip the better our chances of winning will be," he says.

"The players certainly respond when the crowd is right behind them, just as they did against Rochdale on Sunday. I know it's a long trek up to Carlisle but on behalf of the players I would ask that fans make the effort.

"It could be just that little extra encouragement from the terraces that does the trick."

Latham feels that Leigh are now right back in the thick of the promotion battle and feels that his youthful team have begun to answer their critics.

"Some poeple have been saying that this is the worst team Leigh have ever had - that's absolute nonsense.

"Bad teams don't turn top of the table sides over as comprehensively as we did on Sunday if they can't play. We don't pretend to be a great side, what we are is a team in the middle of a re-building programme.

"To make comparisions with the 1981-82 championship winning side, for example, is totally unfair. I would love to have players of the calibre of Des Drummond, John Woods and Steve Donlan in my team today but these days smaller clubs find it nearly impossible to hang onto their star players such is the attraction of Super League.

"We are still investing heavily in our youth policy and given time it will bear fruit.

"You only need to look at the youngsters in the current squad to see the tremendous depth of talent we have. Stuart Donlan, Paul Blackburn, Mark Burrows, Scott Hilton, Safraz Patel and Barry Burgess have all tasted first team action this season.

"The Alliance side also contains a number of promising youngsters such as Dean Conway, Ian Hudspith, Paul Miller and Martin Goulding while the current Academy squad will provide us with more future professionals.

"Of course we want to get out of the second division as quickly as possible but Rome wasn't built in a day and we need to be patient while this fine crop of youngsters develop to their full potential."

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