In a match witnessed by a paltry 402 supporters smattered around the Hilton Park terraces, no doubt boosted by a large and vocally prominent travelling from Cheshire, Leigh looked much like a lost side even from the beginning and only to really start to get going when it was virtually too late to even salvage a point.

Northwich dominated much of the first half and it was only thanks to the goalkeeping heroics of James Mann that they were still in with a shout at 0-0 at half-time, although at one point he was grateful to be saved by his woodwork after Mark Quayle blasted a shot against the post earlier on.

Leigh created very little, leaving Oliver Kahn-lookalike Ben Connett a virtual spectator in the Northwich goal in a first half that mainly featured two competitive midfields battling it out in the middle of the park, with the referee having to step in to prevent several confrontations between the two sides throughout the first half.

Mann again came to RMI’s rescue with another couple of excellent saves before Vics finally took the lead, a hopeful long ball from Connett prompting a mix-up in the RMI defence that allowed Quayle to take advantage of the confusion and manage to hook the ball home, much to the delight of the travelling supporters who still dream of a “Great Escape” from the trap-door to Conference North.

Quayle’s goal sparked RMI in to action and they twice could’ve equalised when Gary Williams broke free, only to fire in to the side netting on one occasion and crossing to nobody in an unoccupied penalty area on another. When Warren Peyton fired wildly over the bar from a promising position on the edge of the box it was destined to be another of one of those games where RMI simply can’t hit the net, and that was merely confirmed in stoppage time when they could’ve grabbed an unlikely point. Leigh forced a couple of successive corners in some last-gasp pressure on the Northwich goal, and Chris Lane’s shot was somehow prevented from going in by Jon McCarthy, and a chance from the resulting corner was unwittingly prevented by an RMI attacker deflecting the ball wide in front of goal, with the large Northwich support breathing a collective sigh of relief as the final whistle went.

The victory puts Northwich just two points away from safety, despite having ten points deducted earlier this season for financial irregularities, leaving RMI a huge seventeen points away from clawing themselves out of the drop-zone, an almost unattainable target even for the most optimistic supporter.

Bookmark or share this story with:

• Digg
• Delicious
• Facebook
• Reddit
• Stumbleupon

SPORTNETWORK SPECIALS