LEIGH RMI will not slack in their fight to stave off relegation.

It looks bleak for the Railwaymen, seven points adrift of safety and with only one win and seven defeats in their last eight games, but manager Phil Starbuck says he will not allow his side to accept that relegation from the Conference is inevitable.

He said: "We have three options. We can go through the motions until the end of the season, lie down and die and pack in, or continue to give everything to the end of the season. To give everything until the end of the season is what we will do.

"We owe it to the club and we owe it to ourselves. We are the ones who are in the situation and we are going to keep working and keep smiling and try everything we have in us to get results, because it is still not over yet. We can still stay up. We have to keep going and got to keep believing.

Meanwhile Gary Kelly is enjoying his first involvement in management -- despite being thrown in at the deep end.

The former Republic of Ireland goalkeeper has been promoted as coach of the club he joined in September.

Kelly played 15 games before he badly injured a thumb against Chester City on Boxing Day.

He has not been redundant, however, and recent weeks have seen him advising manager Starbuck on the touchline, deputising for assistant boss Steve Redmond, who has been in first team action.

"It is frustrating being out, because I am not playing, but Phil Starbuck has brought me in as a coach, so I have been involved, which is fantastic.

"It gives me some managerial experience to go with my playing experience, and I am thoroughly enjoying it. All I can do is do my best. The manager has had enough faith in me to install me as first team coach, and I am delighted and grateful to him.

"I have known Phil for a long time and I like the work he does and his style of management. I like the way he teaches the players and thinks on the same lines as myself."

Kelly, aged 37, admits that it is a tall order for RMI to escape the drop, but if the players continue to work hard, then all is not lost.

"We can't ask any more of the players," he said. "In the last three league games they have worked extremely hard and we have the work ethics as high as we can get them. In the second-half against Stevenage on Saturday we got the quality of play in. We passed the ball, moved it and competed. We created chances and had them on the rack, but at the end of the day you can't legislate for individual mistakes or refereeing decisions."