Accrington Stanley 2 Leigh RMI 1

By Martyn Hindley RMI's hopes of gaining some silverware in the form of the Lancashire FA Trophy disappeared under the Accrington mud last Wednesday as the Railwaymen bowed out of the competition at the Crown Ground.

Stanley did well to stage the game after a combination of adverse weather and two matches in the previous seven days had made the going good to soft and it was to the hosts advantage as the UniBond Premier League side booked a semi-final spot.

It was all Leigh in the early stages as Michael Twiss and Dino Maamria spurned early opportunities to break the deadlock but it was all soon to change as Jonathon Smith's 'goal' for the home side was cancelled out by a linesman's raised flag and Paul Mullin actually did get his name on the scoresheet with a cheeky deflection to Lutel James's goalbound effort to wrong-foot Mark Westhead.

In between times though, the contest became quite heated as Dave Robertson's ludicrously late challenge on Ian Monk provoked tensions in all departments that referee Paul Brabin seemed powerless to diffuse. Soon after, Tony Black and Stanley defender Paul Burns got involved in a scuffle that could have seen both getting first use of the soap but again, Brabin's leniency allowed matters to rise to boiling point.

Further clashes marred the second half. Mullin's second, three minutes after the interval - a casual conversion of James's assist - effectively killed the game for the hosts yet Leigh had an abundance of chances to make a fightback.

Gerry Harrison, who was injured after a first half clash of heads with Smith, tried endlessly to break his scoring duck for RMI all night and came closest on 56 minutes when his effort hit the post and cannoned to safety. Maamria hit the bar 10 minutes later and Black halved arrears four minutes from time but despite nine and a half minutes of time added on, the Railwaymen could not force extra time and thus crashed out of the competition in sight of the finishing line for the third consecutive year.