EASTLEIGH have released defender Osei Sankofa ahead of tonight’s do-or-die clash at home to Billericay Town (7.45pm) in the Blue Square Bet South.

An alarming slide of five straight league defeats has dumped the pre-season title favourites into the bottom two – albeit that, bizarrely, they are also only ten points off the play-offs spots.

But, with his team having conceded 41 league goals already this term, manager Richard Hill has opted to allow summer signing Sankofa to leave on a free transfer and was last night preparing to take 19-year-old defender Alex Lacey on a month’s loan from Luton Town.

Sankofa, a former Charlton and Southend player, was signed by Hill’s predecessor Ian Baird from Boreham Wood during the summer and made 15 league and cup starts for the Stoneham Lane club.

He joins a string of pedigree players, including Daryl McMahon, Moses Ademola and Marvin Williams, to have left the Silverlake during a disappointing start to the campaign.

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