RADCLIFFE Borough coach Dave Powell hopes to have more bodies back for Saturday's rearranged match at Brighouse Town after signing experienced defender Mark Bainbridge.

The former Witton Albion, Connah's Quay and Vauxhall Motors centre-back helped Boro to a clean sheet after slotting into the heart of their defence for last weekend's key clash at home to relegation rivals Harrogate Railway Athletic.

The goalless stalemate, while tinged with disappointment after the Belvoir Stadium outfit missed a number of chances to take all three points, maintained the five-point cushion over second-bottom Harrogate, who occupy the final relegation place in the Evo-Stik First Division North.

And after Tuesday night's Doodson Cup match at home to Colwyn Bay was postponed due to a waterlogged pitch, Powell is hopeful of a further boost to the squad as they face a congested fixture schedule.

"It looks like we will be playing two games a week on heavy pitches over the next two months so we were conscious of the need to boost our squad numbers," said Powell.

"Mark has a good non-league pedigree and was kicking his heels on the sidelines at Witton so we were happy to give him some games.

"He has come in on a free transfer, done a good job for us and is signed up to the end of the season.

"We were short at centre-back as Danny Lafferty has been struggling with an ankle injury.

"Mark is a fit lad, has a good physique and had already done well against us for Witton earlier in the season.

"I think he played about 12 games for them at the start of the campaign and will now give us competition for places in the run-in.

"If he plays well then he will keep his place in the team, but obviously we also have Danny to come back in the next few weeks and a number of other players who we hope will come back into the reckoning."

Chris Middleton and Matt Landregan were missing through illness at the weekend but are due to return for the trip to Brighouse and next Tuesday's rearranged cup tie against Colwyn Bay, which will be played instead of the scheduled league match at home to Clitheroe.

Striker Steve Foster is also close to returning from a hamstring injury.

"We have to be careful with Steve but if he is not fit for Saturday then it will only be a matter of days rather than weeks," added Powell, who admits to being frustrated by his side's finishing against Harrogate.

"We missed a lot of chances, especially in the first half, but we allowed Harrogate back into the game and they could have stolen a goal on the break.

"So it could have gone either way and we have to be happy that they are no closer to us.

"We wanted to bridge the gap to teams in mid-table and will be confident of doing that at Brighouse on Saturday.

"The original game was abandoned at half time when we had done well against the elements to go in 1-1, so we will take confidence from that when we go back up there and hopefully we can finish them off this time."