Bruce admits to being a striker light

THIS drawn-out season might still have almost a month to run, but already Steve Bruce is turning his thoughts to the new campaign.

The Wigan manager cannot wait for the summer to arrive, not least so he can bolster his striking resources, which are on the thinner side of threadbare.

With no replacement signed in January for the departed Emile Heskey and Amr Zaki set to leave at the end of the season, following his much-publicised fall-out with Bruce, new arrivals cannot come soon enough.

In the mean time, Bruce found himself talking up Hugo Rodallega, the £5m (€5.6m) signing from Mexican club Necaxa, who has now gone 11 Premier League matches without scoring since his arrival in January.

But for a touch more luck – he smashed a free-kick against the crossbar on his debut against Liverpool – he could already have at least a couple of goals and had it not been for the impressive form of Wanderers goalkeeper Jussi Jaaskelainen he would be celebrating his maiden strike.

The 23-year-old almost squeezed a shot past the Finn in the second minute, with the ball squirming through the goalkeeper’s grip and rebounding off a post.

Later in the half Rodallega was denied low to Jaaskelainen’s right-hand post after Antonio Valencia had flicked the ball on.

“It’s probably about the sixth time Hugo has hit the woodwork since his first game for us against Liverpool, and that kind of sums up his luck at the moment,” Bruce said.

“The kid needs a goal but I’ve seen enough to know that he’ll be a really good acquisition for us. He’s bright, lively and when he does get his goal he’ll be fine.”

Bolton had their chances to win the match, with Gary Cahill’s deflected shot crashing back off the crossbar in the first half and Kevin Davies swinging a left-footed strike well over after the break when he had time to pick his spot.

The point made little difference to either side’s standing in the table, although it meant Megson had to wait a while longer before he could definitively say his team were safe.

WIGAN (4-4-2): Kirkland 5, Melchiot 5 (Boyce 46, 5), Bramble 7, Scharner 5 (Edman 53, 5), Figueroa 6, Valencia 6, Brown 6, Cattermole 6, N’Zogbia 5, Rodallega 6, Mido 7 (Zaki 75, 5).

Subs Not Used: Pollitt, Watson, De Ridder, Koumas.

BOLTON (4-4-2): Jaaskelainen 8, Steinsson 5, Cahill 6, A O’Brien 6, Samuel 7, K Davies 7, Muamba 5, McCann 5, Cohen 5 (Riga 79, 5), Taylor 6, Elmander 5.

Subs Not Used: Al Habsi, Puygrenier, Hunt, Makukula, Smolarek, Basham.

REFEREE: Mike Jones (Cheshire) 6: Nothing to trouble him unduly.

MATCH RATING: ** Two toothless teams produced an inevitable result.