NEW Bury striker Joe O'Neill has been tipped to succeed where Jon Newby failed next season.

Shakers' star front man will certainly be missed for his pace and creativity after joining Huddersfield last week but, with only 22 goals from his last two seasons, his strike rate was far from prolific.

Now assistant manager Graham Barrow claims his replacement, signed on a season loan from Preston, can finally grab the goals the Gigg Lane outfit need to spearhead a successful promotion campaign.

"We are definitely disappointed to have lost Jon. He's a quality player, certainly at this level. He could play at a higher level and do well so we are disappointed to have lost him," said Barrow.

"But Joe probably has in his game what Jon Newby didn't have in his.

"If Jon had one fault, it was that he didn't score enough scrappy goals. He made a great contribution here but it would have been better if he had scored a few of those goals.

"There are definitely goals in John O'Neill because he's a good six-yard box player. I've followed John's career from his youth and he's got a great scoring record. Now we hope he can take it to the next level.

"Preston just don't think he's strong enough for their first team at the moment but they've just given him a new two-year contract so they're not keen to give him away."

O'Neill himself is excited by the prospect of first team football this year and admitted he was delighted to move to Bury.

"The scout at Preston asked me if I fancied going to Bury for a year, and I jumped at the chance," he said.

"I was told last year that there was a chance of coming here but I got the Achilles injury and that stopped it.

"The decision to come here was easy for me. Preston have six strikers that would have played ahead of me, so it would have been really hard to get a game there.

"Now I'm just itching to get back on the pitch again and score a few goals.

"The sooner the new season gets underway the better."