ROSSENDALE United boss Jim McCluskie is hoping Accrington Stanley striker Damien Hindle is the man to end their goal scoring drought.

The Dark Lane side are without a goal in 2004 and have not won since beating Prescott Cables on Boxing Day.

Dale, with 31 league goals, are the lowest scorers in Unibond Division One so McCluskie is keen to sign Hindle up in time for tomorrow's home match against Farsley Celtic.

"I've spoken to John Coleman about Damien and he rates him very highly. I'm confident he is going to sign for us on loan until the end of the season," said McCluskie.

"If he does, he will go straight in to the side against Celtic."

McCluskie got the chance to see hit-man Hindle at first hand when Dale played Stanley in a friendly fixture on Monday night -- the striker scored the only goal of the game.

"He's got pace and has a bit of zip about him. He can get in behind defenders and has an eye for goal. That is the sort of person we definitely need at the moment."

McCluskie, who took charge of the club again two weeks ago, said he is at a lose as to why his team can't score at the moment.

He added: "When you look at the players we have it makes you wonder why we aren't scoring. Chris Brookes, Brian Welch and Simon Burton are all capable of finding the back of the net but at the moment they're simply not going in."

Dale's drought was typified in the 1-0 defeat at Colwyn Bay last weekend.

"We put everything in to the game and got nothing out of it. We dominated the match, hit the post three times but still ended up losing. The lads were absolutely gutted at the end."

However, McCluskie can see the bright side of things and he has been impressed with his players attitude.

"I said to the lads that if we can repeat the way we played against Colwyn Bay then a win will not be too far away. The attitude from the players has been great and they are not feeling sorry for themselves."

The manager is happy with the way new signings Richie Townsend, Phil Lockett and Scott Bonsall have settled in at Dark Lane and says there could be some more new faces to follow.

He said: "We've brought in a few new faces to freshen things up and if it works that will be fine. But if not then I will not be afraid to bring in more new players."

Dale are currently third from bottom but McCluskie is upbeat about his side's chances for the remainder of the season.

"The way I see it is that we still have nearly half our games to play so, despite our lowly position, it is not all doom and gloom. We went on a good run before Christmas and I am sure we can go on one again. We just need to start scoring goals."