LEIGH RMI may be languishing perilously close to the Conference drop zone but their minds will be elsewhere on Saturday when the road to Villa Park starts in the FA Trophy.

Leigh are not noted for a successful run in non-league's most prestigious knockout competition, but the £10,000 prize money on offer to the eventual winners should be big enough incentive for the Railwaymen.

Any football fan is aware that no cup tie of any description is a formality, but even so Steve Waywell's men could be forgiven for thinking that they could have drawn a nicer tie than the home fixture with old UniBond adversaries Emley that awaits them on Saturday. RMI perished to Worksop Town - also of the UniBond Premier League - back in October's FA Cup crunch match and have only won three of their 12 home games at Hilton Park this season. The Yorkshiremen can hardly be described as outsiders on that evidence!

Indeed, Emley - who now play their home games at Wakefield Trinity RL - came so close to joining RMI as a Conference club in the summer when they notched 101 points in the UniBond League only to be pipped to the post by Stalybridge Celtic. Boosted by the return of former RMI winger Michael Reynolds, Emley are coasting along in a comfortable ninth place in that division and are more than capable of upsetting the applecart on Saturday.

Assistant manager Dave Miller believes that a good cup run could kick-start th league campaign: "If we can get a successful cup run, it might just be the kick start that we need for the rest of the season. However, the league is far more important to us at the moment and we desperately want to hang onto our status as a Conference club."