GRAHAM Howarth is hoping he has found the answer to his striker problems as the Anthony McCluskey and Ian Pilkington partnership has so far paid dividends up front.

Former Burnley trainee McCluskey missed the start of the NWCL Division Two season with suspension but has lined up with hitman Pilkington in the last three games and the Storks have started finding the back of the net.

They have scored seven in this time with Pilkington taking his tally to 11 for the season while McCluskey can start adding to his tally of two so far.

"I think we may stick with them up front," said Howarth. "They perhaps are not the paciest of strikers but they give us something different. They can hold the ball up and they both have a trick or two up their sleeves."

The good news for Howarth is that striker Dean Stowe has also returned from his honeymoon while Damien Ingham and Steve Yeoman are both back. Yeoman has missed the last two weeks as he has been on duty as a fireman.

"It gives me a couple of options," said the Padiham boss.

The Storks last game was an eight goal thriller with Cheadle which ended 4-4 last Saturday.

Padiham's young keeper Kirk Marsden was responsible for some of them - and Howarth is hoping he has now got rid of all his bad luck for the season.

"I'm sure it was enjoyable to watch, if you are not a manager! But we gifted them three goals. I've told Kirk that hopefully he has got all the mistakes out of his system. To get a point out of it was probably quite good after that.

"But we had chances to win it and we have got to take them. At the moment, we aren't doing that and are punished at the other end. I think we have lost five games 1-0 this season.

"But we are not panicking because we have been playing well."

And Padiham will be hoping to get the goals tomorrow when they make the trip to Bootle (Ko 2pm) GRAHAM Howarth is hoping he has found the answer to his striker problems as the Anthony McCluskey and Ian Pilkington partnership has so far paid dividends up front.

Former Burnley trainee McCluskey missed the start of the NWCL Division Two season with suspension but has lined up with hitman Pilkington in the last three games and the Storks have started finding the back of the net.

They have scored seven in this time with Pilkington taking his tally to 11 for the season while McCluskey can start adding to his tally of two so far.

"I think we may stick with them up front," said Howarth. "They perhaps are not the quickest of strikers but they give us something different. They can hold the ball up and they both have a trick or two up their sleeves."

The good news for Howarth is that striker Dean Stowe has also returned from his honeymoon while Damien Ingham and Steve Yeoman are both back. "It gives me a couple of options," said the Padiham boss.

The Storks last game was an eight goal thriller with Cheadle which ended 4-4 last Saturday. Padiham's young keeper Kirk Marsden was responsible for some of the goals - and Howarth is hoping he has now got rid of all his bad luck for the season.

"We gifted them three goals. I've told Kirk that hopefully he has got all the mistakes out of his system.

"We had chances to win it and we have got to take them. At the moment, we aren't doing that and are punished at the other end. I think we have lost five games 1-0 this season. But we are not panicking because we have been playing well."

And Padiham will be hoping to get the goals tomorrow when they make the trip to Bootle (Ko 2pm).