THE hunt for a hit man starts here for Dougie Freedman and Wanderers – with a striker taking precedence in the manager’s summer spending plans.

Frustrated at the lack of killer instinct his side have shown for long spells this season, the Whites boss now has his eyes on two new front men to provide competition for top scorer Jermaine Beckford.

Successful loanees Lukas Jutkiewicz and Joe Mason look out of Freedman’s financial reach, both rated around the £2million mark by Middlesbrough and Cardiff City respectively.

But Freedman is confident that he will be able to land enough strike power to improve on the 54 goals his side have managed this term, with two games left to play.

“We need to buy ourselves some goals,” he told The Bolton News. “We need a player in the team that you can play off and make chances for them.

“We’re working very hard at that. Everyone wants strikers who can score goals.

“But I do feel confident that I can bring in strikers that will get them.”

Marvin Sordell was yesterday linked with a season-long move to Brentford, although it is understood that no official approach has been made to the club.

The £3.2million striker has been told he must accept a place in a squad rotation system if he is to stay at Bolton.

But the former England Under-21 could jump at the chance to stay in the capital with the newly-promoted Bees, having enjoyed mixed fortunes at Charlton this season.

After successive blanks at The Valley and against Leicester City in midweek, Freedman is hoping for a change in fortune in front of goal at Sheffield Wednesday this afternoon.

“I have said many times this season that when we are on top in games, we need to start making it count,” he said. “I would have thought that players like Jutkiewicz and Beckford would have taken those chances against Leicester – but there’s no blame put on them.

“We just need to make sure that in certain parts of the game that we stay a bit stronger mentally.

“When the game opened up and we had good chances, Leicester stayed strong, took their chance and ended up winning the game.”