GEOFF Lutley was given an early lesson as to the problems he faces trying to turn ailing Leigh RMI around.

It was a baptism of fire for the new manager, who only took the reins last week, after Phil Starbuck resigned.

Lutley was thrown in at the deep end and took his side to Exeter without even the luxury of a training session.

To compound matters he was without the injured Craig Gaunt and Gareth Holmes and the suspended Gareth Stoker. Loan striker Steve Burton was recalled by Scarborough, while Barry Miller played suffering from flu. He had already lost goalkeeper Paul Crichton who joined Accrington, but managed to re-sign Ian Martin as a replacement.

Lutley said: "It was always going to be a tough task going to Exeter.

"We started off well and were the best team for the first 20 minutes but they scored a goal and were the better team for the remaining half. After the break it was a similar pattern to the first, but Chris Lane made a mistake and our heads went down a little.

"We got back into the game against the run of play with a goal and missed another good chance, but we lost Miller through injury and we had to reshuffle and throw caution to the wind. We made three or four individual mistakes and you cant legislate for that. The result hurt me and it has been a long time since any team of mine was stuffed like that."

Leigh missed an early chance when Karl Rose's effort hit the bar, but Exeter took the lead through Steve Flacks headed goal. Sean Devine's close-range finish made it 2-0 but Chris Simm pulled one goal back with a neat right-foot shot. In a frantic final 10 minutes Gary Sawyer nodded in Exeter's third, Andrew Taylor rammed in a fourth and Jake Edwards completed the rout.