ON-LOAN Shakers striker Pawel Abbott wants to stay at Gigg Lane until the end of the season.

Preston's Polish goal ace has returned to Bury to complete the final 15 days of a three-month loan spell cut short last autumn.

His future after that remains in doubt but Abbott is desperate to remain in Andy Preece's squad and help them gain promotion to Division Two.

"As soon as I knew I could leave Preston, I wanted to come back here," he said.

"I've not played first team football for two months, so now I'm looking to get some matches under my belt. I'm only here for 15 days but hopefully we will try and sort something out for a bit longer.

"I really enjoy being at Bury. I'm not sure if my time at Preston is over or not. I just need some first team football."

His arrival has been perfectly-timed, with Shakers' 1-0 defeat to Rushden in midweek taking their goal drought to four matches.

And, after his first game back in the firing line, he admitted the players were starting to feel the strain.

"There is a bit of pressure on the strikers to get more goals but there's enough quality in this side to get promoted," he said.

"I think we are capable of beating any side. Rushden are second in the table and we showed we are better than them, even though we didn't get the win."

Abbott's impact against Rushden was obvious as Shakers looked a vibrant outfit, inspired by the drive of their front line leader.

And the fact that he remains the club's second top scorer this season, despite playing only 16 of their 45 games, emphasises his importance to Bury's promotion hopes.

But manager Andy Preece is already resigning himself to letting him slip through his fingers once more, as the financial constraints of a club which entered into administration only a year ago begin to rear up again.

"It's a massive boost to have him back, if only for a short period," he said.

"He really makes a difference. He gets hold of the ball, twists and turns, sets play up and runs at defenders. He's a real handful and someone we would like to keep permanently. But it's difficult to do that for financial reasons.

"If there was some way we could keep him, we would. Craig Brown (Preston manager) has already done us a big favour by letting him come here but they have some big games coming up, so I don't expect him to let us keep Pawel until the end of the season."