SHAKERS' striker David Johnson is on a collision course with one of his heroes.

The crunch comes tomorrow afternoon when the quicksilver forward comes face to face - well face to chest! - with his former Man United club captain Steve Bruce.

Veteran Bruce is in town with Birmingham City and can expect a sharp reminder of the Johnson talents that he first saw on the United training ground.

Johnson, Bury's leading scorer this term with six goals, was an apprentice at Man United when Bruce was leading his club to domestic and European honours and the 21-year-old Shaker is looking forward to getting into the same competitive arena:

"I never played in a team with him and have only played against him in training so it will be nice to test my skills against him," declared Johnson.

"He was like a father figure to us at Old Trafford, especially once once Bryan Robson left. He was the person we apprentices looked up to and could always go to for advice.

"I have not seen him since I left United and it will be nice to see him again but I will not be too friendly on the pitch!

"Hopefully, I will get one over on him but I watched Birmingham play on Sunday in their win against Wolves and it will be another tough game. It would be nice to find the back of the net again and for the team to get a run of wins behind them." Trevor Francis, the City manager, harbours hopes of promotion this season and the Blues currently lie seventh in the table.

Bruce is the most instantly recognisable face in the side but there is plenty of experience with former Liverpool and Everton defender Gary Ablett alongside Bruce at the back.

Francis brought in Zimbabwean international Peter Ndlovu from Coventry in the summer, paid Derby £100,000 for Darren Wassall who was once on loan at Gigg Lane, and another £200,000 for Tony Hey from Fortuna Cologne. The latter was on the scoresheet in the 4-1 Coca-Cola reverse at Arsenal on Tuesday night.

Costliest recent signings on show will be Jon McCarthy who was recently bought for £1.5 million from Port Vale and Chris Marsden a £500,000 capture from Stockport who scored the winner on his debut against Wolves.

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.