BROMSGROVE Rovers have been forced back into the transfer market to search for a new striker after Richard Burgess walked out on the club last week.

Burgess ended his third spell at the club whe he stormed out of the Victoria Ground after Rovers' victory over Cinderford.

His absence means manager Jimmy Mullen has a new striker crisis on his hands with only two recognised hitmen, Paul Szewczyk and Leon Mitchell, at his disposal.

The manager expressed surprise when Burgess, who only re-joined Rovers in December, quit the club.

He said: "When Richard came here we told him that Leon and Paul were our first choice strikers and he would have to be patient.

"He was under no-illusion that he would start straight away so for him to react in the way he did was strange."

While club begins to scour the leagues for another striker to help keep Rovers promotion aspirations going, Delton Francis and reserve striker Andre Joseph could be used to spearhead Rovers' attack.

Mullen said: "Delton would do an excellent job for us up front and Andre Joseph is someone I like the look of.

"We need to find a striker who is good enough to score goals at this level but is willing to wait his turn and sit on the bench."

However, the manager will be confident of improving his squad after successfully bringing in two new defenders at the end of last week.

Phil Male joined Rovers from Bedworth United and Karl Johnson chose to ignore overtures from Conference side Nuneaton to come to Bromsgrove from Tamworth.

Mullen told the Advertiser/Messenger was pleased with both defender's debuts.

He said: "A few people raised eyebrows when we put them straight in at the deep end.

"But after talking with the players I was confident they could come in.

"They did a super job - Phil and Karl performed like they had played together a hundred times for the club."

Victory over Marlow on Saturday also saw Rovers move into a play-off spot for the first time all season.

The Bromsgrove boss though has banned any talk of promotion in the players' dressing room.

He said: "All we are thinking about is the Rothwell game.

"We are going to take each game as it comes. Talk about promotion has been banned."

Fans though could be forgiven for dreaming of promotion from the Southern League Division One West this season.

Rovers have three games in hand on leaders Mangotsfield, who they trail by seven points.

The top two automatically win a place in the Premier Division, while the next four sides will fight for their right in the play-offs.

Ross Collins is the only major doubt for Saturday's home clash against Rothwell.

By Peter McKinney

The influential defender has been struggling with a knee injury for the last month and could be kept out of the side by Johnson and Male.

Midfielder Riad Erraji plays his final game before his three match suspension for his sending off at Marlow begins.

* Chairman Tom Herbert praised the club's and reserves and under-16s teams for topping their divisions.

Rovers top the Midland Combination Reserves Division, while the under-16s are at the Central Warwickshire Youth League's summit.

He said: "These teams are doing an excellent job and the coaching staff and players deserve all the credit."