A STRIKER has finally been found by Redditch United boss Rod Brown.

Brown has been scouring the country for a hitman to bring in to add to stormin' Norman Sylla, Arthur Appleton and Kidderminster loan man Scott Rickards and thinks he's got the perfect addition in another Harriers hitman.

Both Redditch and Kidderminster have agreed a deal in principal for attacking midfielder Jamie Gleeson but the player is yet to agree to the terms.

If he does, Brown said he could see him in the starting eleven at Valley Stadium for the Conference North's top six showdown with Nuneaton Borough on Saturday.

Brown said: "It's definitely the fixture of the week in the league. Nuneaton will obviously be confident because they have been playing very well of late but hopefully there will be a big crowd on Saturday and we can give as much as we get."

If the Reds win on Saturday their play-off dream will be one step closer and the United manager is only too aware of how close his team are.

"Games in hand mean nothing at this stage of the season," said Brown.

"When you're looking at playing two or even three games a week to catch up you're stretching your squad to its limits. That's when the panic starts to creep in," he added.

The Reds kept up the pace at the top of the table with a win against lowly Ashton United.

Kidderminster loan man Rickards netted two and Sylla one as United romped in the first half but Ashton came back in the second period with goals of their own to give the Reds a nail-biting end to the game.

Brown added: "At this stage of the season there are no easy games so any win we can come away with is a bonus.

"We came in at half time 3-0 up and you might think we were cruising but Ashton had two very good chances to score in the first ten minutes but didn't take them.

"After we scored the first the second and third came fairly quickly but I said to them at half time 'don't think this game is over'.

"I wanted to keep a clean sheet for the first 15 minutes of the second half but Anstiss came for a ball and stopped and their striker ran on to it and scored."