MIDDLEWICH Town could be facing a striker crisis in the run up to Christmas.

Town allowed Rob Hopley to leave two weeks ago to join Winsford United and now they have been hit with the news that Les Miranda will be unavailable before Christmas because of his duties as a postman.

However manager Terry Murphy feels he has the answer - Middlewich Town Reserves.

Murphy said: "We're struggling to score goals at the moment and we'll be without Les for a couple of weeks.

"So I'll be bringing young Michael Brandon in from the Reserves as he's shown he is comfortable at this level having had a couple of games on the bench for us.

"It's up to the young lads to show they can cut it at this level and make it difficult for me to leave them out."

Even with the striking problem Town are sitting pretty at the top of Mid Cheshire Division One, 10 points ahead of second placed Crosfields.

And their cause was helped on Saturday with a 2-0 home win against Pilkington.

A Miranda header and a second half penalty gave Town all three points, but it was a game that should have been far more comfortable.

Murphy added: "To be honest we played very well, we're doing OK at the moment, but we need to score more.

"At 2-0 it looks like it was a close game.

It wasn't, we battered them and they're a decent side."

Town will be looking to improve their scoring record when they travel to Golborne on Saturday.