Stanley are targeting two strikers before next week’s transfer deadline, but Jimmy Bell admits there are plenty of hurdles to overcome.

The Reds have seen their forward line decimated by injuries, with top scorer Colby Bishop missing the Leasing.com Trophy defeat to Salford City, just days after making his injury comeback against Southend.

Stanley are also without last season’s 15-goal winger Sean McConville, who will miss the rest of the season, while Swansea loanee Courtney Baker-Richardson hasn’t played since August.

That has put extra onus on Dion Charles and Offrande Zanzala, and Bell admits Stanley are in need of some help in the forward areas before the deadline passes.

He said: “We need to bring to bring two players before the window shuts.

“We’re a bit short up front at the minute. Everyone knows what’s gone on with certain players and injuries.

“We need to bring two players in and they have to be strikers.”

As ever, finances will play a key part in who Stanley are able to recruit in this window.

“The pay structure we’ve got, the budget, players we go after, the money they’re on blows us out the water,” Bell explained.

“Three or four players we’ve seen in League Two we’ve gone far but they’re out of our pay bracket.

“It’s a struggle, but something we’re working on every minute to bring a couple of strikers. Who we get? We don’t know yet.”

Stanley dipped in to non-league market in the summer to add to their forward line, recruiting Bishop from Leamington and Charles from Southport.

While Bell would prefer a striker with more pedigree, he admits they come at a cost, with Stanley scouring all available markets to try and identify the right players.

“I’d love a player with a huger pedigree that can score goals, but that’s cots a lot of money, even in League Two,” he said.

“When you go up to League One it costs even more to try and get those players, non-league you’re taking a bit of a punt and gamble, but it still costs a lot of money.

“The top players in the National League are still on a lot of money.

“We’re scouring the market up and down the country we’re looking for young, hungry players, that’s our market and hopefully we’ll get one, or two, before the window shuts.”

But the search could well go down to the wire.

“We’ve enquired about a few who are in and around first-team squads.

“They don’t usually let them out until the end of the window and where their season is That’s understandable, they’re their player and we can’t force them.

“We’re scouring every club, every league looking for a fit for Accrington.”