Leigh RMI 1, Hereford United 2
AFTER the humiliation at Christie Park, Leigh found themselves out of a cup for the second time in four days as Hereford United handed the Railwaymen a comprehensive defeat in the FA Trophy.
Steve Waywell had to shuffle his pack after Morecambe had steam-rollered his side in the League Cup, with the starting line-up involving neither of the three new faces: Gardner, Stansfield and Slythe.
However, with just the one man up front in Tony Black, Leigh struggled to manufacture anything in terms of goalmouth incident and it was the Edgar Street outfit who took the initiative with a grafting first half performance.
Elmes and Williams had already fluffed their lines on two glorious chances in the opening half-hour, with James Quiggin almost chipping in from midfield with a dipping volley that almost caught Felgate off his guard. However, the sucker punch came three minutes before the break, Williams lashing home fluently into the top left hand corner as Leigh stood motionless.
The majority of the 441 present were unimpressed, and worse was to follow early in the second period as the Bulls' threatened to add to their tally.
Elmes ballooned over the bar after a difficult bobble had hampered his control, and the same striker posed problems again with a testing long range drive that Felgate was equal to.
Just as Leigh were exerting pressure on Cooksey's goal, Hereford killed the tie with the decisive strike. As the fog descended rapidly, John Snape's corner picked out Elmes who, unmarked, nodded in off the post and ran away to celebrate with the 70 or 80 plucky visiting supporters.
Black had been Leigh's single source of all things prosperous on the striking front, and therefore it was no surprise that when the rare attack reaped dividends, it would be his name on the scoresheet at the end of it all: running twenty yards before thundering home to set up a tense last few minutes.
However, the result was never in doubt, and Hereford marched on towards a fifth round tie at Morecambe after a solid display.
RMI: Felgate, Spooner, Murphy, Durkin, Farrell, Swan (Mason 64), Monk, Ridings, Kielty (Critchley 74), Black, Jones. Subs not used: Matthews, Morrell, Dootson. Booked: Jones.
The next RMI fixture is against Nuneaton Borough on March 3, with the Lancashire Cup replay against Lancaster on March 6 at 7.45pm.
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