LEIGH RMI's arrival at the seaside so far this season has been met by a number of frosty receptions - as Southport and Scarborough will testify writes Martyn Hindley

Saturday's long haul to Hartsdown Park in deepest Kent will continue to provide a chill to Mark Patterson's men, but if their red hot form continues the manager will not mind that.

Leigh are in the best form of the campaign to date having recorded two straight league wins, keeping three successive clean sheets and making the last eight of the Lancashire Marsden Trophy.

That they are still packed into the bottom three acts as a constant reminder that the danger is far from over for the Railwaymen but they have been far from complacent in victories over Burton Albion and Woking. Patterson is professional enough to ensure that that continues.

"I'm disappointed that we didn't have a game on Tuesday night," said the manager

"I was going to put out a full-strength squad. With the game being postponed at Rossendale, it means that we won't have had a game for 10 days so we'll be a bit rusty but we'll be ready for them."

Margate started the season brightly but playing their home games at Dover's Crabble ground until December started to take its toll and they are now fighting with Leigh at the wrong end of the table.

Players who were at the club last season though will remember Chris Kinnear's side as all hustle and bustle when they beat RMI 2-0 in the fourth round of the FA Trophy, and its a reputation that has certainly reached

Patterson.

work hard

"Margate will certainly make us work hard and give the lads something to compete with. Phil Collins and Leon Braithwaite are very imposing players but I believe that we have got both the pace and the height at our disposal to compete with that.

"We have made a lot of progress in the last few weeks and certainly in defence we have started to perform very much as a unit, especially considering how leaky we had been up to that point."

Leigh success in the south east has been frequent though since promotion to the Nationwide Conference in May 2000. Victory at Hartsdown last year in the league allied to a draw at relegation-threatened Dover helped Steve Waywell's side stay up and the season before had been littered with points in the capital.

One of RMI's three successes on the road this year came at Gravesend back in October but few fans will debate that - with fish like Southport to fry later in the month - these are the kind of games that the Railwaymen must win.