STEVE JONES has kept Leigh RMI in pole position at the top of the Unibond Premiership.

His goal on 14 minutes gave them a 1-0 home win against Emley and keeps them ahead of the chasing pack

But in truth they should have won more convincingly. In the end it was the same old story - hanging on while Emley applied all the pressure.

"They have the best away record in the division," said Leigh manager Steve Waywell.

"But we defended well when we had our backs to the wall and they created only one chance. That came deep in injury time when goalkeeper Dave Felgate kept RMI's nose in front with a blocking save with his legs."

Hero Felgate was almost the villain midway through the first half.

He chased Paul Sykes out to the touchline, Sykes gave him the slip, cut back inside and fired into the net. But the eagle-eyed referee spotted the ball had entered the goal . . . through a hole in the sidenetting!

There was no such problem with the Jones goal. Released by Ricky Harris's lob, he raced into the box to beat Andy Rhodes with a drive from an acute angle.

RMI lost their dominance once the influencial Mark Ward was forced out of the game with a badly gashed leg.

He will almost certainly miss another top-of-the-table clash on Saturday when Hyde visit Hilton Park. Also doubtful are Harris (ankle) and Jones (back), both late casualties on Monday.

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.