BURSCOUGH brought FA Cup glory hunters Leigh RMI down to earth with a bang when they won 1-0 in the Unibond Challenge Cup second round at Hilton Park last night. The West Lancashire side, who themselves almost pulled off a shock result at Conference side Telford last Saturday, were determined to knock the Railwaymen out of their stride and although they played three strikers, they got back in numbers to defend, especially in the last 20 minutes when Leigh threw caution to the wind.
The events of the last few days obviously took their toll and the performance and the result didn't come as a shock to manager Steve Waywell.
"This was something I fully expected and warned the players about before the game," said Waywell. "We really could have done without a midweek game and the only consolation is that it wasn't a league match.
"You can write the script for a situation like this, it happens all the time in football but that doesn't make it right. Our build up was painfully slow compared to last Saturday and the whole night was an anti-climax, although the players said their goal didn't cross the line." That decisive strike came in the 21st minute and RMI had just had a warning when Neil Matthews had to head a Michael Yates' corner over his own bar.
From the resulting flag kick by Yates, who was being watched by Manchester City, Mark Wilde's header rattled the bar before striking goalkeeper Dave Felgate and bounced over the line.
The referee was in no doubt although the Leigh players were adamant the ball had not crossed the line.
The goal brought to an end Leigh's seven-match unbeaten run, although they almost levelled on the stroke of half-time when Matthews' header, at the right end this time, was knocked on to the post and away to safety by Paul Blasbury.
Andy McMullen, who was booked in the first half for dissent, received his marching orders five minutes from time for a reckless challenge on Anthony Whealing.
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