STUART Humphreys tried his best to celebrate Leigh RMI's great escape from relegation on Saturday, but the stresses and strains of keeping his side in the Conference North had left him physically and mentally drained.

Humphreys was the one who had always kept a cool head in the run-in to the climax of the season, but the relief of managing the "great escape" had clearly got to him.

There was a collective sigh of relief after two goals from giant-striker Dan Owen had earned Leigh a vital 2-1 win over Worksop in the last-game decider to the season.

The Railwaymen's cause had looked lost as the season entered its final stretch, but seven games without defeat saw the Hilton Park outfit haul themselves out of the drop zone.

"It wasn't just about this game, it was about the last seven games, where we are unbeaten having drawn five and won two," said Humphreys. "The lads have been absolutely fantastic. I am delighted and hope to keep the nucleus of the squad to build on next season.

"It is not often RMI relegate two clubs in a week. We put Scarborough down last week, which was sad as they are a big club, and then Worksop, but we were in that position last year and we can empathise with how they feel.

"You are not judged on one game but on 42 and we have been good enough.

"It has been a roller-coaster ride and one of the things I have learned is that we need strength in depth as there were times in January and February when we suffered because of it.

"But in terms of myself and Andy Roscoe (assistant manager), we have made progress from what we achieved last year as we have picked up 10 more points.

Goals against have come down by more than 20 goals and we have kept 13 clean sheets. We have lots to look forward to and build upon for next season."

Whether Humphreys will still be in charge next season has not yet been confirmed, but he deserves all the plaudits he can get, having steered a team to safety on a much smaller budget than any of the other teams in the division.

RMI are hoping their money worries will ease with the proposed sale of Hilton Park.

They do not own the ground but are hoping to benefit financially if it is sold together with an increase in revenue when they relocate to the Sports Village in 2008.

Chairman Bill Taylor was full of praise for the team when he said: "It is tremendous bearing in mind the wage bill and the turmoil going on in the club, which will hopefully be resolved very soon. We are ambitious, want to move forward and get back into the Conference.

We have a new ground, which will be marvellous for football and rugby and we want people to get behind us. We look forward to a good season next year and then move on to the new ground.

"One hurdle we have got over is that we have stayed up and we must have the smallest wage bill in the league.

"It has been very hard and unfortunately when some of the quality players get injured we don't have a bench to replace them.

"But the lads have tried their best and never once moaned about the money side of things and have stuck at it. They are all 100 per cent behind us. The manager has worked on a shoestring and for him to keep us up is tremendous.

"His future wil be decided in a couple of weeks time but it all depends on our financial situation."