MARTYN Lancaster is the first casualty of Leigh RMI's mass end of season shake-up - whether the club are relegated or not.

The central defender, who joined the club 15 months ago from Chester City, will be released at the end of the season as manager Phil Starbuck looks to rebuild the squad for the new campaign.

"I've been in charge for five months now", says Starbuck, "but the bulk of my players are made up of Mark Patterson's signings and not mine.

"I've got different ideas about things that I'd like to do but we need to start preparing to restructure the club in the summer and we have to start that now."

Lancaster's form has been inconsistent throughout the campaign and he wasn't even among the substitutes on Saturday as the Railwaymen crashed to a 10th home reverse of the season against Burton.

The defeat means that RMI's fate could be sealed on Good Friday at The Shay if they fail to beat Halifax Town, who haven't won a game to date in 2004 and have scored just six league goals since the turn of the year.

If Leigh are beaten in West Yorkshire, they will be condemned to a place in the bottom three and catching third-bottom Farnborough Town will be mathematically impossible if the Hampshire side win.

But Starbuck's battle plans will be thrown into jeopardy by a shambolic pitch at The Shay, which played host to two rugby league matches and two games in the Conference in the space of eight inclement days last week.

"We're going to have to mix it, it's as simple as that", says Starbuck. "We've got plenty of big, strong lads and we know that we'll have to scrap and battle every inch of the way to get the three points.

"But in the past few weeks, I haven't been able to fault the enthusiasm, dedication and commitment of the lads", he added.

Just two years after dropping out of the Football League though, the Shaymen are faced with the prospect of the drop themselves after a horrific sequence that has seen them take just a single point from the last 39 available.

Leigh complete their Easter double-header with a home clash against already-relegated Northwich Victoria on Monday afternoon.