PAWEL Abbott is delighted to have secured another month's football at Gigg Lane ahead of tonight's Worthington Cup clash against Stoke City.

The Polish Under-19 striker has become a firm favourite with the Bury faithful since arriving on a month's loan from Preston and has struck up a great partnership with Jon Newby.

With four goals to his name already, Abbott is clearly enjoying his stay at Gigg and is looking forward to adding to his tally in the coming weeks.

"The lads are great, the gaffer's great and I'd like to thank him and Graham Barrow for giving me the chance to play first team soccer," said Abbott.

"I'm really enjoying playing up front with Jon. We struck up a good understanding from our first game and I think we compliment one another.

"He is a quicker player who gets in behind defenders while I prefer the ball to my feet."

Highly-rated Abbott signed for the Deepdale outfit from LSK Lodz in February 2001 for £125,000.

The powerfully built 20-year-old was actually born in York but moved to Poland with his family at the age of eleven and holds dual nationality.

So it was all the more sweet that his goal on Friday - which featured on Sky TV's Goals of the Week slot - was against his boyhood favourites.

"I used to go to Bootham Crescent with my brother and one of my heroes then was Paul Barnes," he added.

"It was great to score against them especially with my head as I get some criticism about my heading. But it was a great ball from Terry Dunfield and I felt we deserved to go on and win the game.

"We managed to do what we've failed to do in recent games and hold onto our lead, maybe we've learned our lesson.

"Friday's result will give us a lot of confidence and we're ready to have a go at Stoke tonight."