LEIGH Leopards ruthlessly exploited an error-strewn performance from London Broncos to boost their hopes of reaching the Betfred Super League play-offs.

The Broncos have shown signs of improvement in the last couple of weeks - and pushed Leeds to golden-point extra time this month - but they contributed to their own demise in a 36-6 defeat by the Leopards.

Iliess Macani's bungle allowed Darnell McIntosh to score in the third minute and from there Leigh hardly looked back, ruthlessly exploiting further handling errors from the league's basement side.

While Leigh moved to within seven points of sixth-placed Salford after a seven-try victory, London faced up to a seventh successive loss and their 17th in 18 fixtures this year.

After bemoaning a "horrendous start" in a sixth successive loss last week by Castleford, Mike Eccles' London stumbled out of the traps again as two blunders in the first 11 minutes proved costly.

First, a backpedalling Macani fumbled John Asiata's hopeful cross-field kicks directly into the arms of McIntosh to dot down, while Rhys Kennedy's knock-on in possession allowed Robbie Mulhern to start a move that ended with fellow prop Tom Amone bursting through a challenge to go over next to the posts.

A swift passing move down the left ended with Ricky Leutele touching down in the corner despite a despairing tackle from Ethan Natoli, which left Leigh 16-0 ahead after the first quarter.

Leigh took their foot off the gas but London hardly threw a punch going forward until Josh Rourke broke from deep although Zak Hardaker produced a defiant try-saving tackle. It was a sliding-doors moment as Leigh furthered their advantage from the next set of six as Matt Davis went over underneath the posts.

Trailing 22-0 at the interval, London were brighter at the start of the second half but Will Lovell coughed up possession by knocking on and Leigh cashed in from the penalty as Leutele's grubber down the left flank bisected two defenders, with Josh Charnley stealing in between them to go over.

The visitors avoided being blanked when Rourke outjumped Hardaker to reach Jack Campagnolo's towering high kick just after the hour for his third try in three matches.

But three minutes later, Gareth O'Brien teed up Lachlan Lam to cross, with Leigh's sixth try compounded for London when Sadiq Adebiyi was sin-binned for a rash late tackle in the build-up.

Lam was then the provider as Jack Hughes became Leigh's seventh different try-scorer of the evening six minutes from time as they made their extra man advantage count.