NELSON have signed Dave Gray and Brad Pates ahead of tomorrow's trip to Maine Road.

Former Bacup star Gray, who scored more than 25 league goals in their promotion season last term and has already grabbed 11 goals in all competitions this year, was snapped up from Salford City this week and could start tomorrow.

However, ex-Rossendale central midfielder Pates is recovering from a hernia operation and may not feature until the New Year.

Manager David Hall said: "Brad is a signing I felt was appropriate to make because he's played at a higher level and wants to again, hopefully with us.

"Both players will bring a little bit more quality to the side, help us to improve and score some goals.

"I'm not being critical of the lads who have played up front because people don't miss chances on purpose, but it's frustrating for the rest of the lads because we haven't been capitalising on the good play to get into scoring positions.

"Having said that, we're still top of the form table so things can't be that bad."

Hall admitted he was expecting a difficult game at Maine Road tomorrow but was seeing it as a great chance to close the gap, particularly as they have three games in hand on the second placed side.

"We've beaten them twice already this season but it will be a tough fixture," he said.

"The advantage is they like to play football and so do we."

Hall added that Martin Brown was a couple of weeks away from a comeback after missing the last four games due to ankle ligament damage.