Leigh RMI 1 Crawley Town 2
By Matt Lawton August 15 2004
Charlie MacDonald's second strike of the game with just ten mintues remaining meant that Crawley marked their first ever Conference game with a 2-1 Hilton Park victory over RMI.
Charlie MacDonald's second strike of the game with just ten mintues remaining meant that Crawley marked their first ever Conference game with a 2-1 Hilton Park victory over RMI.
RMI boss Phil Starbuck was quoted in the local press this week that he is an "ambitious man" and believes that his Leigh side has a lot going for it after wholesale changes during the summer, finally getting rid of some of the deadwood that remained following Mark Patterson's disastrous spell in charge of the club. And Starbuck's positive comments seemed to be blooming when his side started brightly against Crawley, dominating the opening exchanges and deservedly took the lead after just fifteen minutes when Craig Gaunt marked his debut with a goal.
However, instead of 'turning the screw' on their seemingly vulnerable opponents, RMI instead allowed their visitors to get back in to the game, with Ian Martin being eventually called in to action, although the initial aim of trying to quieten the vocal travelling support was achieved with the early goal.
The only other significant chance of a scrappy first half fell to former Mansfield Town striker Craig Mitchell had a chance to double RMI's lead but he only managed to drag the ball wide of the goal when one on one with the Crawley goalkeeper after chasing a long through-ball.
Crawley were controversially allowed back in to the game after just seven minutes of the second half when debutant Martyn Moran, formerly of Bolton, was cruelly adjudged to have handled the ball in the penalty area, allowing MacDonald to step up and convert the resulting spot kick.
The game looked to be heading for a draw with RMI persisting to use long ball tactics to allow Mitchell and Alex Meechan to run on to, while Crawley somehow failed to score in an amazing goalmouth scramble, with RMI defending as if their lives depended on it.
However, once RMI finally put a sustained bit of pressure together, they were caught out on the counter attack and MacDonald grabbed his second with just ten minutes remaining, to condemn RMI to an opening day defeat, who will certainly have to improve their ball-retention before Tuesday's visit to Burton Albion.
However, instead of 'turning the screw' on their seemingly vulnerable opponents, RMI instead allowed their visitors to get back in to the game, with Ian Martin being eventually called in to action, although the initial aim of trying to quieten the vocal travelling support was achieved with the early goal.
The only other significant chance of a scrappy first half fell to former Mansfield Town striker Craig Mitchell had a chance to double RMI's lead but he only managed to drag the ball wide of the goal when one on one with the Crawley goalkeeper after chasing a long through-ball.
Crawley were controversially allowed back in to the game after just seven minutes of the second half when debutant Martyn Moran, formerly of Bolton, was cruelly adjudged to have handled the ball in the penalty area, allowing MacDonald to step up and convert the resulting spot kick.
The game looked to be heading for a draw with RMI persisting to use long ball tactics to allow Mitchell and Alex Meechan to run on to, while Crawley somehow failed to score in an amazing goalmouth scramble, with RMI defending as if their lives depended on it.
However, once RMI finally put a sustained bit of pressure together, they were caught out on the counter attack and MacDonald grabbed his second with just ten minutes remaining, to condemn RMI to an opening day defeat, who will certainly have to improve their ball-retention before Tuesday's visit to Burton Albion.
Bookmark or share this story with:
Digg
Delicious
Facebook
Reddit
Stumbleupon
More Leigh Genesis headlines
Leigh Genesis latest threads
Leigh Genesis Poll
