WITH a dearth of midfielders and a plethora of strikers at his disposal, Stan Ternent has named four of his front men in his side for the last three games.

In stark contrast Gillingham boss Andy Hessenthaler has a striking problem that he has to deal with ahead of tomorrow's match at Turf Moor as three of his front men, Rod Wallace, Tommy Johnson and Marlon King, are out of contention with injury problems.

Add to that the fact that Guy Ipoua is away from the club at the moment and Hessenthaler is only able to select Mamu Sidibe in what will be a lone striking role, similar to Gareth Taylor, in front of a five man midfield.

That is a system that the Clarets themselves have used in recent matches and key to the success for both sides will be how quickly the men across the middle can get forward to support their target men.

Paul Shaw, who scored four goals in a successful loan spell at Turf Moor while he was at Arsenal eight seasons ago, is the most likely to fill that role for the Kent club and he has passed the 50 league goals mark in the current campaign.

Young midfielder Danny Spiller is expected to keep his place in the side despite the return of Paul Smith who missed a rare game last weekend while on paternity leave. That is because player manager Andy Hessenthaler is not thought to be ready to return to the starting line-up after injury.

Experienced keeper Vince Bartram, a Priestfield legend, is back in goal as the current number one Jason Brown, who at 20 is 14 years the younger, is currently ruled out with injury problems.

But the back four has a settled look with Barry Ashby and Chris Hope in the heart of the defence.