Leigh RMI 1 Woking 0 by Martyn Hindley: LEIGH RMI's early season mauling at Woking sounded an early death knell into the Steve Waywell regime.

RMI were calamitous and the Railwaymen were soundly thrashed.

At that stage, the Cards were holding all the aces as they topped the Conference tree but water has passed under the bridge in cascades rather than droplets since and RMI proved as much with a hard-fought victory over their relegation rivals at headquarters.

Manager Mark Patterson continues his seemingly endless search for both a striker and a midfielder but at present he must be delighted with the successes of his self-styled defence.

Far from being clumsy, Neil Fitzhenry continued his solid, dependable form of late as the Surrey side struggled to etch a chance of note.

Audacious lob

Non-league journeyman Warren Patmore has made a habit of scoring against Leigh in recent years and he almot repeated the feat when he tried an audacious lob following a clearance from Stuart Coburn which was fortunately lacking in direction.

When Patmore hobbled off three minutes before half-time, RMI were never likely to be under pressure to the same extent as it would take a brave man to wager that his replacement Nicky Banger represented a similar threat.

With Woking not firing a single shot on target over the 90 minutes, the attacking focus turned towards the opposite end.

Shwan Jalal pulled off an impressive save to deny Dino Maamria before the interval and the Tunisian was proving to be a handful again at the re-start when he latched ontoa through ball from Ged Kielty before shooting wide.

The stage was set for the unlikely figure of Ged Courtney to step off the bench and weave some magic.

Courtney has been far from his inspirational best this season and his appearances have generally been saved for occasions of low importance or injury to other strikers. Of his two chances in this game though, he seized one to impress as he smashed a loose ball inside the near post for the winner seven minutes from time.

Courtney had missed an earlier chance to break the deadlock and his eventual goal was always likely to be the winning one.

However, Coburn rarely celebrates a clean sheet for various reasons and he was forced into a couple of much-needed injury time interceptions as Banger indicated half a chance of a good final ball into the danger zone.

The former Altrincham shotstopper ensured that that did not materialize but he would have been powerless to stop Raphael Nade's header had it not bounced off the top of the bar instead.

RMI: Coburn, Harrison, Durkin, Williams, Salt, Kielty, Fitzhenry, Whittaker (Heald 58), Maamria, Bent (Courtney 66). Subs unused: Bates, Maden, Robertson. Booked: Fitzhenry.Attendance: 435.

Goldline Trophy Update

By Martyn Hindley

Any hopes of an all-Atherton final at the Reebok Stadium were dashed as

Prestwich Heys spoiled the party at Alder House.

Defending champions Colls cruised through to their second final in as many

years with an surprisingly simple win over Charnock Richard in a repeat of

last year,s showdown at the Wanderers.

Matty Swailes took just fourteen first half minutes to register his first

hat-trick of the tournament to dump the 2000 champions out of the event, but

Manchester league side Prestwich ruined sponsors, dreams of a meeting with

inaugural winners LR on Wednesday.

Colls, neighbours from Crilly Park should have been hammered as the

Manchester League side impressed throughout, but plucky Rovers held out for

extra-time thanks to Matty Dunthorne,s coolly executed lob five minutes from

time.

Tim Stokes finally turned Prestwich chances into tangible reward within

minutes of extra-time getting underway though as he leapt highest at the

back post to head home a hotly disputed free-kick.

Colls will re-acquaint themselves with the Reebok in the spring, although a

date is yet to be arranged.