Leigh RMI 0 York City 3
By Matt Lawton January 29 2005
The old addage of football being a "game of two halves" was certainly justified at Hilton Park this afternoon when York, booed off at half-time, scored three second half goals to condemn RMI to yet another defeat.
The old addage of football being a "game of two halves" was certainly justified at Hilton Park this afternoon when York, booed off at half-time, scored three second half goals to condemn RMI to yet another defeat.
Although it wasn't presented by Manchester City and England star Shaun Wright-Phillips as it had been anticipated, RMI were dealt a huge boost prior to the game with the presentation of a cheque for £400,000 from the English Football Stadium committee to RMI chairman Bill Taylor and Leigh MP Andy Burnham to help finance the cost of building the new stadium that will form the centrepiece of the Leigh Sports Village.
This left quite a feeling of optimism for the future in the air and this was reflected by an almost unrecognisable RMI side that defied their lowly position in the league and took the game to York from the outset. Despite missing influential captain Gareth Stoker, which ultimately proved to be a big hole in RMI's 'engine room', the Leigh side played some superb football at times and dominated both possession and territory, although they lacked a killer touch in the final third, as has been the case all season since the departure of goal poacher David McNiven to Queen of the South last summer.
As the first half wore on, Leigh's dominance continued and they started to create many more goalscoring opportunities, with Chris Simm going close on two occasions and captain for the day, full back Andy Roscoe, whipping in some excellent crosses from wide on the left, while Daniel Douglas-Pringle was denied a decent penalty claim when he went down under a challenge from York goalkeeper Chris Porter as Pringle looked to dribble around him.
RMI boss Geoff Lutley had earlier in the week called for his players to show more pride in themselves and the club, and they certainly lived up to the importance of the "Save RMI" day with a stirring first half performance that brought warmth to the RMI faithful on a bitterly cold day. However, such is the nature of football fans, the large travelling army of York supporters didn't appreciate the unlikely RMI performance and merely saw this as a failure of their own team, venting their frustration as the half time whistle went, booing the Minstermen from the field.
The half-time break couldn't have come soon enough for the York side, and they must've certainly got a rocketing at half time because they came out for the second half looking a completely different team, with the roles of the two sides almost completely swapping, with this time York attacking the bulk of their support at the Chadwick Street End and determined to claim their third victory in succession to help claw themselves away from the drop zone. Their efforts weren't helped just before the hour mark when Merseyside referee Mr. Pollock sent off former Blackburn midfielder Darren Dunning for a second bookable offence after the linesman had spotted an incident off the ball.
Unfortunately for RMI, this only served to inspire the visitors in to action, but they only took the lead on sixty-five minutes when a defensive mix-up led to a debatable free kick being given, which was consequently superbly tucked away from twenty five yards out, with Andy Bishop excellent curling the ball around the RMI wall and past goalkeeper James Mann. Cue delirium amongst the travelling hordes.
As has been the case on so many occasions this season, the first goal conceded by RMI was quickly followed by a second as they completely crumbled at the back, allowing Bishop to waltz through to cross for former Welsh international Lee Nogan to poke home his third goal of the season.
This was the signal for the match to effectively end as a contest, and although Warren Peyton failed to half the deficit when he fired the ball against the bar from long-distance with Porter beaten, York, and Bishop in particular, missed several easy chances before Bishop finally grabbed his second to wrap up the victory in the dying minutes, with the final whistle bringing wild celebrations from the York fans, relieved at another getting another three points away from a second consecutive relegation.
Although Geoff Lutley is refusing to throw the towel in and accept RMI's fate as relegation certainties, they are simply running out of games to try and haul themselves up the table, and at this rate could be going down with a record lack of points. Although an almost bumper crowd of 701 featuring many so-called "new faces" supporting RMI can be seen as an encouragement, the match just summed up RMI, with a stirring first half cancelled out by a second half pummelling.
With next week's scheduled opponents Canvey Island still involved in the FA Trophy, the vital game against fellow strugglers Forest Green has been brought forward to next weekend, with RMI simply having to win to have any sort of chance of staying up this season.
This left quite a feeling of optimism for the future in the air and this was reflected by an almost unrecognisable RMI side that defied their lowly position in the league and took the game to York from the outset. Despite missing influential captain Gareth Stoker, which ultimately proved to be a big hole in RMI's 'engine room', the Leigh side played some superb football at times and dominated both possession and territory, although they lacked a killer touch in the final third, as has been the case all season since the departure of goal poacher David McNiven to Queen of the South last summer.
As the first half wore on, Leigh's dominance continued and they started to create many more goalscoring opportunities, with Chris Simm going close on two occasions and captain for the day, full back Andy Roscoe, whipping in some excellent crosses from wide on the left, while Daniel Douglas-Pringle was denied a decent penalty claim when he went down under a challenge from York goalkeeper Chris Porter as Pringle looked to dribble around him.
RMI boss Geoff Lutley had earlier in the week called for his players to show more pride in themselves and the club, and they certainly lived up to the importance of the "Save RMI" day with a stirring first half performance that brought warmth to the RMI faithful on a bitterly cold day. However, such is the nature of football fans, the large travelling army of York supporters didn't appreciate the unlikely RMI performance and merely saw this as a failure of their own team, venting their frustration as the half time whistle went, booing the Minstermen from the field.
The half-time break couldn't have come soon enough for the York side, and they must've certainly got a rocketing at half time because they came out for the second half looking a completely different team, with the roles of the two sides almost completely swapping, with this time York attacking the bulk of their support at the Chadwick Street End and determined to claim their third victory in succession to help claw themselves away from the drop zone. Their efforts weren't helped just before the hour mark when Merseyside referee Mr. Pollock sent off former Blackburn midfielder Darren Dunning for a second bookable offence after the linesman had spotted an incident off the ball.
Unfortunately for RMI, this only served to inspire the visitors in to action, but they only took the lead on sixty-five minutes when a defensive mix-up led to a debatable free kick being given, which was consequently superbly tucked away from twenty five yards out, with Andy Bishop excellent curling the ball around the RMI wall and past goalkeeper James Mann. Cue delirium amongst the travelling hordes.
As has been the case on so many occasions this season, the first goal conceded by RMI was quickly followed by a second as they completely crumbled at the back, allowing Bishop to waltz through to cross for former Welsh international Lee Nogan to poke home his third goal of the season.
This was the signal for the match to effectively end as a contest, and although Warren Peyton failed to half the deficit when he fired the ball against the bar from long-distance with Porter beaten, York, and Bishop in particular, missed several easy chances before Bishop finally grabbed his second to wrap up the victory in the dying minutes, with the final whistle bringing wild celebrations from the York fans, relieved at another getting another three points away from a second consecutive relegation.
Although Geoff Lutley is refusing to throw the towel in and accept RMI's fate as relegation certainties, they are simply running out of games to try and haul themselves up the table, and at this rate could be going down with a record lack of points. Although an almost bumper crowd of 701 featuring many so-called "new faces" supporting RMI can be seen as an encouragement, the match just summed up RMI, with a stirring first half cancelled out by a second half pummelling.
With next week's scheduled opponents Canvey Island still involved in the FA Trophy, the vital game against fellow strugglers Forest Green has been brought forward to next weekend, with RMI simply having to win to have any sort of chance of staying up this season.
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