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Leigh RMI 1 Accrington Stanley 2

By Jordan Reay December 22 2003
Leigh lost only their second game in seven outings as they lost 2-1 to FA Cup giant-killers Accrington Stanley at Hilton Park. David McNiven netted his fifteenth league goal of the season but it was too little too late for the battling Railwaymen.

After Stanley's cup heroics in midweek, Leigh must of thought they would have had a good chance to take three points against a tired and vulnerable Accrington. But to Leigh's amazement, things didn't go as they thought.

Leigh started the game the brightest, with Ian Fitzpatrick looking a class above everyone else wih his weaving runs down the left flank. Wayne Maden's curling shot was probably RMI's best chance of half which unfortunatley drifted well wide of the post.

Despite the Railwaymen's bright start, it was Stanley who took the lead. After 12 minutes Andy Gouck was picked out at the back post from a Peter Cavanagh cross and he scored at the second attempt after Gary Kelly parried his shot.

Swirling wind and rain made the game almost impossible to play, disrupting passing and general play, making the best effort goal a Gouck 40-yard drive which was comfortably saved by Kelly. Despite the weather conditions, Leigh worked hard to equalise with David McNiven and Carl Barrowclough both working hard to find any openings.

Half-time was fastly approaching and Leigh couldn't seem to wait for the interval. Leigh became a little too complacent which lead to Paul Howarth scoring two minutes into first-half injury time and putting the game almost beyond RMI.

Leigh improved after the break and tried desperatley to get back in the game. They pushed everyone forward to try and get a goal but doing this left them open to attacks on the break. On two occasion RMI were nearly caught out on the counter attack with both Steve Flitcroft and Paul Mullin squandering very good chances to put the game beyond Leigh.

As the game drew to an end, it looked as the Railwaymen had given up until McNiven scored his fifteenth goal of the season with a minute to go. This gave a glimour of hope for the Hilton Park fans but turned out just to be a consolation goal as Accrington defended the game to it's close to take all three points and to extended their unbeaten run to six games.

Leigh RMI: Kelly, Durkin, Redmond, Lancaster, Shepherd, Harrison, Ian Fitzpatrick, Maden, Roscoe, Barrowclough, McNiven. Subs: Peyton, Martin, Rezai, Kielty, Mike Harris.

Accrington Stanley: Speare, Cavanagh, Williams, Halford, Howarth, Flitcroft, Gouck, Brannan, Cook, James, Mullin. Subs: Kennedy, Armstrong, Durnin, Hindle, Madden.

Referee: David Drysdale (Lincoln)

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