ROBBIE Blake and Andy Gray would be my number one strike partnership.

When our Championship season gets under way at home to West Brom on August 11, I would prefer to see those two starting together in attack.

That means, for me, Ade Akinbiyi and Kyle Lafferty would have to sit it out on the substitutes bench.

We may have paid a considerable sum to bring Akinbiyi back to Turf Moor, but a Blake-Gray partnership really excites me and probably gives us the best chance of goals.

The good thing is that things are looking healthy in attack. We've got four out-and-out strikers, while young Jay Rodriguez showed on Tuesday night that he is looking to make a name for himself.

It's great to have Blake back, he's a good acquisition. He gives us a bit of class up front and is always going to be a threat.

He's got all the attributes - skilful, calm, and a great dead-ball specialist with free-kicks around the penalty box.

When rating players out of 10, week after week you would always give Robbie Blake eight or nine.

He does not drop below that too often because he's generally on top of his game.

It's all about partnerships and if Blake and Gray get the chemistry right, then we'll be a real force in attack.

Gray has shown to be a terrific target man. He holds the ball up really well and Blake will feed off him.

It's great to see Gray putting two goals away at Wrexham. That will do his confidence the world of good and that's what it is all about at the moment, along with building up fitness.

I'm sure if he can stay injury-free next season, there's no reason why he can't reach the 20-goal mark.

That should be his and Steve Cotterill's target. Gray would have definitely got 20 last year but for the foot injury that kept him out for two months.

Gray and Blake would be my first choice, but we've also got Akinbiyi and Lafferty as back-up and they're not bad options.

Ade gives us that enthusiasm and I think he would be a great player to bring off the bench if things weren't going right. He gives us a spark and can ignite the team.

There will always be cases when players dip out of form and others come in to take their chance. Some players will have to be patient.

But the spirit is there and it's all about everyone pulling together.