GORDON SHARROCK previews Wanderers intriguing tie with Stoke where two in-form strikers should ensure another goal feast BOLTON fans have seen Nathan Blake blast eight goals in eight games but the Welsh wizard won't be the only super striker in town tomorrow.

If Blake is hot, Stoke's Mike Sheron is on fire - blazing a trail as the Division One top gun with an incredible 10-goal haul.

Between them they've scored more than the entire Oldham and Grimsby teams put together and the prospect of seeing them in action together suggests the Burnden crowd is in for a goal feast.

There are no guarantees that the game will go according to the formbook - if it did Bolton fans would be celebrating yet another high scoring win.

Nevertheless the spotlight is sure to fall on two of English football's most prolific goalscorers; two 'born again' strikers who, for different reasons, have raised more than a few eyebrows with their free-scoring start to the season.

Blake's rejuventation has been extensively chronicled, both locally and nationally. One goal in 16 starts after his £1.5 million arrival from Sheffield United last December had him tagged as a Premiership "flop". Now he's a Burnden hero, even eclipsing John McGinlay, who is considered one of Wanderers' great folk heroes.

He's leaner, meaner and more determined than ever to fulfil the scoring potential Colin Todd and Roy McFarland recognised when they persuaded him to cross the Pennines.

Todd was more significantly persuasive when he sent Blake off on his summer break with strict instructions to get his act together, both physically and mentally. Whatever he said, it worked.

Sheron's is a similar story.

He came through the ranks as a highly-promising product of the Manchester City youth academy, gaining England Under 21 honours and scoring 24 goals in 100 League appearances. Norwich had high hopes when they took him to Carrow Road but his form and confidence nosedived with the Canaries.

Not enough, though, to prevent Lou Macari putting his faith in the Liverpool lad last season when he snapped him up for a player-plus cash deal pitched at around £450,000.

Sheron had a decent return of 15 goals in 28 League appearances for Stoke but there was little evidence that he would hit Division One defences with such ferocity this time round.

The player was just happy to put his Carrow Road days behind him. "The move to Stoke resurrected my career," he admits.

"I'm fitter than I've ever been and, at the moment, I just can't seem to stop scoring."

Sheron arrives at Burnden having scored two goals in each of Stoke's last two games - the dramatic recovery from 2-0 down to beat Huddersfield 3-2 in the League last Sunday and in Tuesday's Coca-Cola Cup tie with Northampton, which followed the same uncomfortable pattern as Wanderers' home leg against Bristol City.

There are distinct differences between the teams that suggest Wanderers will still start favourites.

While Todd has delighted in seeing goals rain in from all departments, Macari has relied heavily on Sheron.

And the most prolific scorers in the country - Wanderers, of course - line up against a defence that has conceded 12 goals in their last five games.

A scoreless draw is an unlikely outcome.

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