LEEDS United striker Derek Lilley is the man Neil Warnock hopes will help Bury fight off relegation. The 25-year-old joined the Shakers on loan until the end of the season - the sixth striker to be signed by the Gigg lane boss this season.

He joins Andy Preece, Laurent D'Jaffo, Lutel James, Adrian Littlejohn and Paul Barnes in the hunt to provide some badly needed goals for the relegation-haunted side.

Warnock wasted no time in contacting the highly-rated Lilley after Coventry City demanded the return of winger Paul Hall on Tuesday night, four days after agreeing to extend his loan deal.

A former Morton hero, Lilley scored 57 goals in 180 appearances and was the leading scorer in the Scottish First Division before his move to Elland Road.

He has made just four starts for the Yorkshire giants, with 19 as a substitute, but has not had a look-in under manager David O'Leary who released him on loan to Hearts over Christmas. "I first saw him six years ago, when I was at Huddersfield," added Warnock. He had a good game and showed great movement. We tried to sign him for £100,000 but Leeds bought him for £400,000.

"He is a decent, whole-hearted finisher who brings other players into the game. He is just what we need.

"When I first asked about him a week ago I was told he was going nowhere. He had already turned down six clubs, including Huddersfield, Norwich and Oldham, but I cornered him at a game at Mansfield this week. After 20 minutes, I managed to persuade him to join us. He knows our position and is really up for the challenge of trying to keep us up."

After their initial setback, the Shakers had lined up a move for Middlesbrough winger Anthony Ormerod, but pulled out when he was injured in a midweek reserve clash with Burnley.

Warnock said: "We would have taken him otherwise, but he was going to be out for two weeks. We continued to look around and couldn't believe our luck when Lilley agreed to join us. He was my number one choice anyway. No clubs had come in for £1m-rated stars Dean Kiely or Chris Lucketti when the transfer deadline passed at 5pm last night, much to Warnock's relief.

Mark Patterson, however, has played his last game for Bury after being released by the club yesterday to join Southend.

Tony Rigby turned down the chance of a loan spell at Shrewsbury and Nigel Jemson chose to stay on at Gigg Lane despite two offers of a loan from unnamed clubs.

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