THE Chester City manager Gordon Hill was escorted off the Hilton Park field by stewards last night following yet another poor performance from his team.

The frustrated travelling City fans, who ventured their verbal feelings towards the ex-Manchester United winger, had witnessed a passionless and mistake ridden 90 minutes from one of the poorest Chester City sides ever to wear the proud shirt.

City have now failed to win in their last six Nationwide Conference outings and lowly Leigh, who were without five regulars, could easily have won by more than three goals.

The home side took the lead on 22 minutes when ex-Manchester United and Port Vale player Michael Twiss took advantage of a weak tackle by Carl Ruffer before scoring from 15 yards.

Twiss brought out two good saves from Brown before doubling his tally four minutes from the break.

Former Chester player Neil Fisher delivered a defence splitting ball from midfield and Twiss took advantage of yet another poor tackle from Ruffer before having a simple job to score.

The second half if anything was worse for Chester than the first had been. The shape and application was lacking and a more proficient outfit than Leigh would have taken full advantage of the situation.

Marcus Hallows made the score 3-0 on 52 minutes with a low effort from eight yards after Twiss had turned orchestrator with a delightful-mazy run before setting the youngster free.

City's few efforts towards the end of the game were long-range shots that keeper Mark Westhead easily dealt with.

This Chester side seems to be going in a downward spiral on a match-by-match basis with the players visibly losing heart, boss Gordon Hill struggling to come to terms with management at this level, and probably more importantly the off-the-field problems that seem to rumble on without any positive conclusion.

LEIGH RMI: Westhead, Spooner, German, Durkin, Scott, Salt (Kielty 75), Monk, Fisher, Hallows, Twiss (Heald 78), Skinner (Hayder 54). Subs: Felgate, Archer.

CHESTER CITY: Brown, Lancaster, M Rose, Porter, Ruffer, Linighan, Hill, Blackburn ( Kilgannon 53), M McNiven (Roberts 72), Beesley, Ruscoe (Hopwood 75). Subs: Kerr, S Rose.

REFEREE: Mr Andy Hogg (Sheffield).

ATT: 547.