Hucknall Town 1 Leigh RMI 3

ERRATIC striker Chris Simm grabbed a timely hat-trick as RMI came from behind to earn a second successive win.

The striker has been guilty of several missed scoring opportunities this season, but he more than kept his cool, to earn praise from his manager.

"One of the frustrating things about Chris is his unpredictability; he often misses when he should score and then surprises you when you don't think a goal is on," said Stuart Humphries.

"But he has twice gone round the keeper and put it into an empty net. He has great pace and has used it to good effect."

Leigh notched up their second double in successive games, but did it the hard way having to overcome the loss of Steve Porter after only a couple of minutes and skipper Mark Maddox in the second-half.

After a goalless first-half Hucknall took the lead soon after the restart when Gary Ricketts flicked on a long ball in to the path of Stephen Akers, who tucked it home.

The Railwaymen bounced back to score in fortunate circumstances when Simm's shot was parried away by ex-RMI man James Coates, only for the clearance by Hucknall substitute Daryll Thomas, to be deflected off the toe of Simm and into the net.

Fortunate the goal may have been, but it gave Leigh just the lift they needed and Simm made no mistake when he took the ball round Coates to put his side ahead and repeated the move 15 minutes from time to secure the three points.

The win lifted RMI to five points clear of third-bottom Scarborough, but they face another testing clash against fellow strugglers Stalybridge tomorrow.