With striker Kevin Rapley missing the first of a three game suspension following his sending off in the 1-0 defeat to Southport two weeks ago, Leigh boss Stuart Humphreys paired Mark Jackson in attack with Kieran Lugsden, scorer of both Leigh goals in the midweek win over Hucknall.

A side that is without it’s top scorer is always likely to struggle to create chances, with Leigh’s only serious first half threat proving to be a cruel one, with Lugsden’s neat back heel putting Jackson in the clear, only for the ex-Preston striker to go the same way as several others during the game and lose his footing on a field that was to host a rugby union fixture only a matter of hours later.

The first half was proving to be a somewhat scrappy affair as both sides fail to retain possession for any lengthy period of time, and it wasn’t until the half hour mark that the hosts showed any genuine presence in attack, with RMI goalkeeper John Lamb called upon to make a smart save after Nuneaton had made inroads down their left flank.

The main chance of the first half came on the stroke of half-time when a Nuneaton centre back met a free kick from the right hand side, only to head meekly over the crossbar when left unmarked in the RMI penalty area.

As has so often been the case during the course of the season, RMI failed to note that particular warning shot and found them a goal behind just after the hour mark when, despite two goal-line clearances from Steve Brockley, Andy Brown finally managed to sweep his fifth goal of the season in to the roof of the net as the Leigh defence once again struggled to effectively cope once a free kick had got in to their penalty area.

Prior to that, the visitors had a golden opportunity to hit the front within a couple of minutes of the restart when full back Gavin Lee-Ellison suddenly found himself clean through on goal, only to have a rush of blood to the head and drag his shot wildly across the face of goal.

Both Gary Williams and Ilucio Da Costa were introduced from the substitutes bench as Leigh chased the game towards the end of normal time, but despite Borough goalkeeper Darren Acton only just managing to keep a Mark Maddox header in front of the line, it proved to be a somewhat disappointing Leigh defeat against a Nuneaton side that had started the day just one point ahead of the Railwaymen in the Blue Square North table.

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