The Reds were looking for revenge after Leigh knocked them out of the FA Cup in the qualifying stages of the competition. The Lancashire club had been appealing to the people of the town to come out in force to support their local team but despite their efforts just 402 fans turned up to watch the team that had lost ten of their previous eleven games.
RMI's draw with Scarborough last week was supposed to be the turning point in their season, giving them confidence to get some good results and propel the team out of the relegation fight they currently find themselves in but it seems that that point game them too much confidence as Stanley ran riot.
Playing on a rugby pitch Stanley found themselves coming out on top with a score more suited to Rugby than football as John Coleman successfully listened to fans of the club and changed the formation to a straight 4-4-2 and it worked wonders.
The small set of fans watched their team hold out the heavy Accrington Stanley pressure for the first twenty minutes before Ian Craney opened the scoring. The former Altrincham midfielder got back onto scoring form with a vicious shot hit from outside the area beating the home goalkeeper.
Paul Mullin doubled the lead twenty minutes later before Rory Prendergast, scoring his second goal in two games since his return from injury, and a spectacular Paul Howarth 25 yard free kick sent the Stanley players in four up at half time, after leading one-nil with just one minutes to go in the first half.
Rory Prendergast scored his third in just two starts after his return from injury twenty minutes into the second period of the game to make it five nil and the Stanley fans couldn't ask for more… But they got it!
Ian Craney grabbed his second goal of the game to secure the sixth goal for Accrington Stanley.
The Leigh RMI players showed maximum effort and commitment as they looked for a consolation but they always looked like a team going down to the Conference North at the end of this season. Stanley, however, looked like a team going up!
FOOTYMAD ACCRINGTON MAN OF THE MATCH Steve Jagielka