Leigh RMI 0 Morecambe 2
By Matt Lawton March 31 2005
RMI put up a valiant performance against their opponents from Morecambe but relegation is ultimately staring the club in the face after Michael Twiss returned to haunt his former club.
RMI put up a valiant performance against their opponents from Morecambe but relegation is ultimately staring the club in the face after Michael Twiss returned to haunt his former club.
Despite a massive difference in the two clubs' budgets as Morecambe strive for promotion to the Football League while RMI head in the opposite direction, the financial differences weren't very evident as RMI gave a good account for themselves and certainly shaded the better of the play in a fairly even first half.
Leigh started brightly and put plenty of pressure on the Morecambe goal, forcing a succession of corners as they looked for an unlikely breakthrough to take the lead.
RMI boss Steve Bleasdale was absolutely livid with a decision from West Midlands referee Mr. Gibbs that saw him disallow a seemingly good goal from Liam Coyne to prompt a furious reaction from Bleasdale which landed him a lengthy lecture from the referee regarding his conduct.
However, it was the visitors that took the lead when ex-RMI striker Michael Twiss, who had a received a warm reception from the Hilton Park when he was announced to the crowd prior to the game, latched on to Lee Elam's through ball to give Morecambe the lead just before half-time against the run of play to score his fifth goal in three games and take his season tally to an impressive twenty goals.
Morecambe looked a lot more comfortable in the second half as RMI struggled to create chances of an equaliser, and the game was effectively sewn up with twenty five minutes remaining when the ever-predatory Twiss scored his second of the game, bfore coming close to a hat-trick towards the end of the game.
The goals of Twiss merely highlighted RMI's past glories, with his former RMI strike partner Steve Jones turning out for Northern Ireland in front of 66,000+ fans at Old Trafford against England on Saturday, while Leigh struggle to attract any sort of decent crowds any more, although there are hopes that a possible winning side in the Conference North will attract more fans, as has been the case in the past at Hilton Park.
On paper, Morecambe are by far and away a better side than RMI, but after a determined performance from the Railwaymen there are encouraging signs for next season that, with a little more quality up front, RMI will be amongst the contenders at the top end of the Northern division of the Conference.
Leigh started brightly and put plenty of pressure on the Morecambe goal, forcing a succession of corners as they looked for an unlikely breakthrough to take the lead.
RMI boss Steve Bleasdale was absolutely livid with a decision from West Midlands referee Mr. Gibbs that saw him disallow a seemingly good goal from Liam Coyne to prompt a furious reaction from Bleasdale which landed him a lengthy lecture from the referee regarding his conduct.
However, it was the visitors that took the lead when ex-RMI striker Michael Twiss, who had a received a warm reception from the Hilton Park when he was announced to the crowd prior to the game, latched on to Lee Elam's through ball to give Morecambe the lead just before half-time against the run of play to score his fifth goal in three games and take his season tally to an impressive twenty goals.
Morecambe looked a lot more comfortable in the second half as RMI struggled to create chances of an equaliser, and the game was effectively sewn up with twenty five minutes remaining when the ever-predatory Twiss scored his second of the game, bfore coming close to a hat-trick towards the end of the game.
The goals of Twiss merely highlighted RMI's past glories, with his former RMI strike partner Steve Jones turning out for Northern Ireland in front of 66,000+ fans at Old Trafford against England on Saturday, while Leigh struggle to attract any sort of decent crowds any more, although there are hopes that a possible winning side in the Conference North will attract more fans, as has been the case in the past at Hilton Park.
On paper, Morecambe are by far and away a better side than RMI, but after a determined performance from the Railwaymen there are encouraging signs for next season that, with a little more quality up front, RMI will be amongst the contenders at the top end of the Northern division of the Conference.
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