BROMSGROVE Rovers manager Jimmy Mullen is still hoping to find the club's frustrated supporters an early Christmas present in the next few weeks by bringing in a striker.

Mullen is still scouring the non-league to find a player who can score the goals to fire Rovers to promotion out of the Southern League Division One West this season.

Mullen admitted he and his assistant Bernard Mackie had been watching several targets to boost their goal-shy side.

He said: "We have a few players in mind to try to bring in.

"Hopefully we'll be able to bring in someone who can get the goals we need. But it's not easy to attract these kind of players.

"Bernard and I are working very hard to find a goalscorer."

"It's the missing ingredient. If we could find someone razor sharp up front then it would change our season completely."

Rovers are in desperate need of a striker as they see their promotion hopes slip away.

The Victoria Ground side is mid-table and despite having three games in hand is lagging behind the teams chasing promotion.

Rovers are the joint third lowest scorers in the league, scoring just 20 goals in 15 games.

Mullen has an inexperienced striker force to call on, with on-loan Paul Szewczyk, Ben Porter, Matthew Barnes-Homer and Duncan Willetts failing to score regularly.

Szewczyk, who was Rovers' top scorer for the last few seasons before leaving for Hednesford in the summer, is the only proven striker at this level.

Willetts has yet to make a first team start since coming to Rovers from Stourport Swifts. The forward has proved to be excellent for the reserves, scoring four times.

Mullen though admitted he will bide his time to give the striker his chance.

He said: "Duncan is still getting match fit. He's okay in the reserves, but it's such a low standard of football that it doesn't even compare to the first team."

Rovers had a gameless weekend and the players trained on Saturday. The Rovers boss is hoping that the break will help his squad after a congested fixture list during October and November.

He said: "We've had a lot of games in a short space of time, so the Saturday off helped the players recharge their batteries.

"We've started to string a couple of results together and hopefully we can build up a head of steam going into the Christmas games.

"If we could get some results then we all might be happier by January."

By Peter McKinney