Tamworth 4 Leigh RMI 3 by Martyn Hindley: LEIGH RMI boss Phil Starbuck left The Lamb enraged after watching his side lose the lead three times and finish with 9 men as they lost a seven-goal thriller.

Starbuck was angered by the card count and the awarding of a penalty to the Midlands side with the score at 3-2 - claiming his former team-mate Mark Cooper had dived to get a penalty he later converted.

"It's very disappointing when you put in all that effort and leave the ground feeling cheated by the referee," said Starbuck.

"He made some ridiculous decisions and I think that cost us the points. It could be the difference between us staying up and going down," he added.

The game had started with positivity for the Railwaymen.The visitors had to ride their luck in the early stages when veteran striker Paul Barnes hit the bar from point-blank range but Dave McNiven put a smile on the faces of travelling fans in the 20th minute.

The predatory striker gratefully accepted the invitation of an empty net after Chris Lane had marked his last game for the club by dispossessing goalkeeper Richard Brush as he tried to shepherd the ball over the by-line.

Such tenacity went rewarded but Tamworth are in the thick of the struggle for survival too and reaped rewards for their persistence too six minutes later. Jamie Brooks fired a rebound past Ian Martin after Jason Blunt's initial effort had been blocked.

Blunt was at the centre of the game's first flashpoint at the start of the second half when he tangled with Carl Rezai in an unseemly moment that culminated in an early bath for the RMI midfielder.

Carl Barrowclough's corner three minutes shy of the break evaded everyone in the danger zone and drifted between Brush and the woodwork to restore the advantage.

The numerical disadvantage was too great though. Tony Scully skipped inside two and drilled home to level a second time, and although Andy Roscoe's free-kick offered Leigh a third lead, they were always second favourites in the face of such adversity.

When Cooper crumbled on the deck under pressure from Martyn Lancaster, referee Sutton's penalty award gave the striker the chance to level things up once more.

It seemed that the best Leigh could hope for was a point. Their expectations diminished further eight minutes from time when Wayne Maden joined Rezai for an early bath after a second bookable offence and Barnes made the nine men pay for their indiscipline with a headed winner.