ANDY Preece has hailed his strike force as one of the best in the division.

Jon Newby and Gareth Seddon have formed a fine partnership since becoming the manager's preferred front two in the last four matches.

And with Ian Lawson pushing both men hard for a place in the team, Preece believes he is one of the luckiest managers in the division when it comes to forwards.

If one of the sharp shooters can hit the back of the net in tomorrow's tough clash at Colchester United then Preece will be even more convinved he is on a winner.

"I wouldn't think there is a better front pair in the division at the moment," declared the boss. "Gareth Seddon has come in and done an excellent job and to be honest he looks a class act.

"Jon has played well all season and that goal on Tuesday will give him a lot of confidence. He was delighted wit it. It doesn't matter whether it was a penalty or not - you look at Alan Shearer's record and I bet a lot of those were from the penalty spot.

"With Lawson on the bench as well and pushing for a place I think we are looking very good in the strikers department."

As usual though, it isn't all good news ahead of Colchester.

Three players are highly doubtful for the match after suffering injuries.

Paul Reid injured his groin in the reserves 2-1 win at Stockport on Wednesday while Harpal Singh (aductor) and Danny Swailes (calf) both picked up knocks during the midweek draw with Bristol City.

"It's typical of the way it's been going really," said Preece, who played 20 minutes for the reserves but is still three weeks away from full fitness. "It looked like our injury list was starting to get shorter. It was down to five but then three more get hurt.

"Everytime you think it's improving something else happens and at the moment we just can't seem to get through it."

Preece was bitterly disappointed after the Shakers squandered three points against Bristol in midweek.

But now he has time to dwell on the match, he is more than happy with the way his team played.

"For the first 20 minutes were brilliant and absolutely hammered them," he said. "The spirit in the team is very high and the positives completely eclipsed the negatives in that game.

"I was just disappointed because if you look at the league table, a win would have taken us a few places higher and onto 20 points, just six points short of the top half of the league."

Preece was also a little dismayed at the size of the crowd. "We got 2,600 through the gate and considering we had won four home games on the bounce I expected more than that," he explained.

"It makes it so much more difficult for visiting teams when they are faced with a big crowd. Hopefully if we keep this good run going they will improve."

Preece also confirmed he was delighted to have snapped up the Leeds United winger on another month's loan and said he would make a decision about the future of Mali trialist Abdou Tangara "in the next three or four days".