By Matt Lawton
October 26 2003

RMI embark upon the road to Cardiff tomorrow when they take on local rivals Accrington Stanley with £10,000 and a place in the First Round proper of the FA Cup at stake. The Cup will provide a welcome break for RMI as they stumble from defeat to defeat in a torrid run of form as the Railwaymen plummet further towards the bottom of the Nationwide Conference and possibly relegation back to the Unibond Northern Premier League, after three years in the top flight of non-league football.

RMI fell to a heavy defeat the last time they visited East Lancashire, when they were trounced 4-1 against Accrington in the Conference earlier this season. However, the RMI caretaker manager duo of Phil Starbuck and Steve Redmond will be hopeful of beginning their reign with a famous victory, which is needed in more ways than one.

The immediate financial rewards of a victory at the Crown Ground are huge to a club who's finances are as perilous as RMI's, not to mention the much-needed boost that a bumper First Round tie would bring, let alone a money spinning Cup run which spans several rounds on the road to a date at the Millennium Stadium on a sunny Welsh afternoon next May. Add to that the huge confidence boost that'd be felt by the squad and the whole club should victory come RMI's way come Saturday afternoon and it could prove to be the turning point of what so far has been a terrible season, which culiminated in the resignation of manager Mark Patterson last weekend.

Starbuck and Redmond have a full strength side to choose from and will be hopeful of doing a better job in ending Leigh's winless run than their predecessor Patterson did.

Either way, it has all the makings of a classic cup encounter, be sure to make the short trip over the moors.