BOLTON boss Sam Allardyce is stepping up his bid to bring in a new striker as soon as the transfer window reopens on January 1.

The home defeat by Leeds on Monday emphasised his squad's lack of firepower as they face the critical Christmas and New Year programme desperate to ease their relegation woes.

Henrik Pedersen was their only front-line striker on Monday with Michael Ricketts injured, Chris Armstrong short of games and Dean Holdsworth on loan to Coventry. Delroy Facey has returned following a loan spell with Bradford, but the former Huddersfield man is not yet ready to lead a Premiership attack.

The depth of Bolton's problem is shown by the fact that, of those five players, Pedersen is the only one to have scored in open play this season.

Ram raid?

Allardyce had admitted he would like Derby's Malcolm Christie who may be allowed to go for half the é5m asked by the cash-strapped Pride Park club at the start of the season.

But even that would be too much for Allardyce, who looks set to follow his familiar path of trying to bring in a European player on loan.

He has been linked with Spartak Moscow's 28-year-old Vladimir Beschastnykh, the 6ft 1ins front man who scored in Russia's recent 4-2 win over the Republic of Ireland.

Allardyce is also checking out Luis Enrique Rueda, of Racing Club Argentina, who is having a trial at the Reebok.

He said: "I want to bring someone in as soon as possible but I haven't got anything concrete at the moment. I've got a few names I can go for to try to strengthen the squad and I'm trying to get something done.

"It's difficult, though, to do it in the midst of the Christmas period because of the games coming so thick and fast. You have to concentrate on your own team first.

Time to adapt

"We've got a couple of trialists in at the moment but often the problem with them is that they haven't played for a long time.

"That makes it a difficult scenario to bring them in. We can't afford to sign a player who has been out of the game for too long because it would take four to six weeks to get him ready to play.

"That is something we can't afford at the moment."

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