Woking 1 Leigh RMI 1by Martyn Hindley

LEIGH RMI survived a second half onslaught from relegation-threatened Woking to take a point away from their Easter Saturday showdown in Surrey.

Geoff Chapple's side had not beaten Leigh in three league attempts and it looked as though RMI would add to their strife as early as the first minute when Andy Heald burst through on goal but could not add the finishing touches as Scott Bevan raced off his line to smother the young midfielder before he could get in a shot in.

From that moment onwards though, the visitors were dominated in midfield and Mark Westhead had to come to the rescue on many occasions to stop the hosts running riot. Barry Moore's volley was closer to the clouds than the crossbar as was Geoff Pitcher's drive moments later after the plucky little midfielder had beaten two defenders on the edge of the penalty area.

Westhead's most telling contribution though came when Durkin was robbed of posession by Charlie Griffin and despite a wicked low cross, the onrushing Warren Patmore was denied from close range by the goalkeeper's reflexes.

Patmore failed to keep a header down moments after when Pitcher's cross had found him in acres of space but in between times, Waywell's men defied the run of play and snatched the lead.

Marcus Hallows pounced on a mistake by defender Chris Boardman to home in on goal and despite seeing his original attempt turned away by Bevan, he made no mistake with the rebound for his second goal in as many games.

Woking dominated the second half though and restored parity ten minutes after the break when Dave Piper and Charlie Griffin set up England semi-professional star Pitcher, whose shot cannoned off the underside of the bar.

With Leigh players appealing for a foul on Durkin, Moore stole in to net the decisive leveller.

That wasn't the end of the action though as the home side threatened to send Leigh on the long journey home with nothing. Chris Sharpling saw a snap shot on the turn beaten away by Westhead whilst Griffin fluffed his lines from close range and Patmore also miscued from close range.

That Leigh managed to emerge with a point was testimony to their resilience at the back and Steve Waywell said that his side deserved a point. "I thought that our passing was not as fluent as it can be but we made up for that with a battling performance", the manager enthused.

"Woking made use of the flanks well and put us under a lot of pressure by getting the ball into the box early but we dealt with it well."