Wigan moved seven points clear of fourth-placed Leeds with a strong second-half display at Headingley on Saturday.

The teams were level 14-14 at half-time but Wigan finished the stronger to keep in touch with pace-setting duo Bradford and St Helens.

The win boosted the Warriors' hopes of a top-two finish and extended their unbeaten run to 10 games in the process.

At half-time Leeds were unfortunate not to be ahead after producing their best 40 minutes for some time.

But the Rhinos had no answer to scrum-half Adrian Lam in the second half as he condemned them to their fourth defeat in six outings.

Tries either side of half-time from winger Jamie Ainscough set Wigan on their way with Lam and inspirational skipper Andy Farrell also touching down to underline Wigan's dominance.

"We knew this was a game we had to win if we were to have a chance of finishing in the top two. We had to win and that was how we approached it," said Wigan coach Stuart Raper.

"The 20 minutes after half-time was very good. We went back to the pattern we had trained to and took advantage of Leeds giving us a couple of penalties."

Leeds rallied with tries from Keith Senior and Tonie Carroll in the final five minutes but it was too little too late.

Rhinos coach Daryl Powell, however, took heart from his side's battling display.

"I thought we played some smart rugby league but obviously it just wasn't quite good enough," said Powell.

"Until just before half-time, we were in a good position. But then for about 30 minutes we dropped off."

Wigan had opened the scoring on 10 minutes when a clever grubber-kick from Farrell was touched down by Terry Newton, with Julian O'Neill adding the conversion.

Leeds' Ben Walker and O'Neill then exchanged penalties before the Rhinos drew level on the half-hour with a wonderful move.

Kevin Sinfield collected the ball from the scrum and found Senior, who charged into the tackle before off-loading to Francis Cummins.

The flying full-back raced over for the try with Walker adding the conversion.

Matt Diskin then took advantage of Wigan being reduced to 12 men by the sin-binning of Mick Cassidy to nudge Leeds further ahead with a close-range try.

Walker added the penalty but with Leeds now also down a man after Matt Adamson was sin-binned, Wigan drew level on the stroke of half-time when Ainscough scampered over in the corner.

Leeds: Cummins, Calderwood, Carroll, Senior, Pratt, B. Walker, Sheridan, McDonald, Diskin, Bailey, Jones-Buchanan, Adamson, Sinfield.
Replacements: Burrow, Poching, C. Walker, Ward.

Wigan: Briscoe, Carney, Connolly, Hodgson, Ainscough, O'Neill, Lam, O'Connor, Newton, C. Smith, Cassidy, Furner, Farrell.
Replacements: Howard, M. Smith, O'Loughlin, Tickle.

Referee: Russell Smith (Castleford).