After Saturday's home defeat to Stalybridge, RMI made the lengthy trip to Cumbria in the hope that they would be able to get at least a point for their efforts and aid their fight against relegation, particularly when you consider that the Railwaymen won in their fixture at Borough Park last season and managed to beat the Reds 2-1 only last week in the second meeting between the sides inside a matter of weeks.

However, it was the hosts that largely dominated the early proceedings and indeed took the lead within fourteen minutes when, after forcing a succession of early corner kicks, Tony Hopper was able to latch on to a ball in to the box and slip the ball past the onrushing Tim Dittmer in to the RMI net.

After falling behind so early in the encounter, RMI showed a certain degree of improvement to try and get themselves back in to the game but had only an Andy Heald shot that skimmed the crossbar to show for their efforts, leaving Steve Bleasdale's side a goal behind at the break.

The early exchanges of the second half saw RMI again come close, only for centre back Mark Maddox to blaze the ball over the crossbar when the hosts failed to effectively clear a corner, before Dittmer followed up his impressive performance in the defeat to Stalybridge at the weekend by twice pulling off superb saves, first to block a headed corner before palming away a free kick that was seemingly destined to hit the back of his net.

Workington had a huge chance to effectively seal the game as it entered it's final period when Matt Berkeley was fouled in the penalty area by Steve Brockley.

Brockley was booked for the challenge before being shown a second yellow card immediately afterwards for debating the decision with the referee, with Brockley the second Leigh player to be sent from an early bath within a matter of days after Andy Heald's sending off against Stalybridge.

Tim Dittmer, though, had different ideas to Berkeley and added to his growing reputation by excellently saving the penalty before RMI substitute Kieran Lugsden levelled the scores with just five minutes left when he sent a cross from the right hand side in to the bottom corner of the net.

Just as it seemed as though Leigh would hold out for a point, despite their numerical disadvantage, Workington scored a heartbreaking late winner when Graham Anthony spotted Dittmer off his line and deliciously lobbed him with a goal that would, in fairness, be fit to win any encounter.

With relegation rivals Solihull succumbing to a 6-1 thumping at Kettering, RMI remain five points adrift of fourth bottom Vauxhall Motors ahead of another lengthy trip on Saturday afternoon when the Leythers travel to Lincolnshire to face Boston United, a Football League outfit up until last summer.

Bookmark or share this story with:

• Digg
• Delicious
• Facebook
• Reddit
• Stumbleupon

SPORTNETWORK SPECIALS

• Think you know your sport? Click here to try the Sportnetwork Prize Quizzes