Marcus Braddock previews the trip to Gigg Lan
Bury are having a tough time at the moment which is difficult to square when you look at some of their better results this season. Admittedly wins are a little atypical but during late September and early October they beat Blackburn away in the Football League Trophy, beat Bradford at home in the league, held Charlton away and beat Oxford at home. So it's clear that they are more than capable of hurting higher placed opposition but they've drifted more than a little of late and their best result since the start of the month was the Football League Trophy home win over the Stoke youth team. Along the way there have been some difficult to take moments that always seem to happen when you're at the wrong end of the table. But we were in a very similar position 12 months ago and we know that things can change very quickly.
Top scorer
Jermaine Beckford with eight goals in fifteen league games. Unfortunately Beckford was injured late last month and has yet to recover. Below him are midfielder Chris Maguire on two and a few players with one goal so far.
Goal Distribution
The first thing I noticed about the spread of Bury's goals is that there have been twelve goals scored in the last half hour of home games with half going in Bury's favour, the same can be said for the six goals in the final fifteen minutes. The Shakers weakest fifteen minutes of home games is the first with no goals scored and three conceded.
Assists
Bury have ten players tied on one assist each including manager Ryan Lowe.
Clean sheets
Three at home and two away.
Squad News
Bury will be without midfielder Neil Danns, top scorer Jermaine Beckford, defender Craig Jones, midfielder Stephen Dawson and goalkeeper Joe Murphy.
Town will be missing Abu Ogogo who starts a three game suspension and Junior Brown who is on the road to recovery.
Referee
Seb Stockridge from Tyne and Wear. Games this season:17. Yellow Card average: 3.2. Red cards: 1 every 5.6 games (2 in 17 games).
Summary
I'm a little surprised to see Bury as far adrift as they are, they looked to have too much going for them at the start of the season when they won their season opener 1-0 at home to Walsall. But it just hasn't happened for them for some reason and recently things have gone from bad to worse with hard luck in the F.A. Cup and a hammering at home on Saturday. Is this the best time to play Bury? Or could it be the very worst with Bury beginning their fight back against the table topping surprise package? We've done and seen similar results in the past and I'm sure Paul Hurst will be guarding against any complacency. Form, however good or bad, is temporary and even with so many damaging injuries, Bury have more than enough to make it a very difficult Tuesday night.
COYB!!!
Marcus Braddock