Telford United 3 Leigh RMI 1 RMI old boy Mark Quayle put his old side to the sword at the Bucks Head as his hat-trick killed off the challenge of his former club.
Leigh, with an already lengthy injury list, were further depleted by the absence of Tony Black, whose blistered heels ruled him out of the side.
However, rather than attacking options, it was at the back were the Railwaymen were further exposed and could have gone behind as early as the third minute when Palmer pounced on a defensive mix-up only to stab his effort straight at Dave Felgate.
The veteran shotstopper was to have a busy afternoon, notably with sensational saves to deny Richard Jobling's quick free-kick and the stop of the day to deflect Gareth Hanmer's long range drive over the crossbar.
Inbetween times though Leigh had fallen two goals behind thanks to a combination of positive attacking play from the hosts and naive defending from Steve Waywell's men.
In the 25th minute, Jake Edwards nodded the opener after a deflection off Neil Durkin, although Quayle claimed the goal in contentious circumstances. Quayle's second followed eight minutes later when Jobling's far post corner found the on-loan striker unmarked at the far post and he crashed his effort into the roof of the net from close range after being allowed the time to control the ball in the six-yard box.
Long range efforts
Leigh's first half attacking was reduced to long range efforts from the speculative Phil Salt, whose midfield performance was one of the only plusses from a disappointing day. Having made two changes at the interval, RMI started the second half in more positive fashion and pulled one back through Dino Maamria after he had been played in by Salt for his third of the season.
Leigh failed to create any more chances of note in the remainder of the match and Telford were able to complete their victory with a quarter of an hour remaining after kamikaze defending allowed Quayle to poach home his third from Jobling's flicked-on long throw.
The second period was a scrappy affair that was punctured by Marcus Hallows' continuous battle with Mark Albrighton that saw the latter cautioned as the confrontation threatened to hot up.
However, Leigh will be mightily disappointed with the manner of defeat that placed them precariously just above the relegation zone.
RMI: Felgate, Fisher (Scott 52), German, Durkin, Farrell, Harris (Hayder 46), Monk, Ridings, Mammria, Salt, Heald (Hallows 46). Subs unused: Banks, Spooner. Attendance: 737. Booked: German, Durkin.
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