BURY’S much-admired brand of attacking football attracted plenty of attention during their march to the top of the League Two table.

But Tom Soares believes the fact they have been put on a pedestal by fans and pundits alike could make their quest for promotion that bit harder.

“I think the way we play football and the way we beat teams as well, I think everyone is looking at us as the team to beat,” said the Shakers midfielder, following last weekend's 2-1 defeat at Exeter.

“It is always going to be hard, with the way we set our stall out, but it is even worse if you are top of the table – everyone is going to want to beat you and it happened at Exeter.

“But I am sure we are going to be straight back up there and playing as league leaders again soon.”

Losing is not a habit the 28-year-old midfielder is prepared to get used to, and last Saturday’s result produced a range of emotions he admits struggling to overcome.

Despite scoring his second goal of the campaign, Soares says he took little comfort from what was a fine individual performance.

“As a professional it is hard to do that,” he said. “You get on the coach and have a long drive back thinking about it.

“We dropped to third and it was disappointing, especially after going on the run that we have been on.

“We probably should just forget about it and move on but it is difficult as a professional and as a person.

“You think about your performance, you think you could have done this or that, and a lot of the boys can’t wait until Saturday now so we can get the defeat out of our system.”

Soares admits, however, that he was pleased to get on the scoresheet and hopes to be able to weigh in with his fair share this season, starting with today's visit of Tranmere to the JD Stadium.

“In the team we can get goals from everywhere, we have already proved that this season,” he added, after notching up his 10th goal in Bury colours.

“Obviously the strikers have been on fire but on Saturday it wasn’t their day so you need other players to chip in and take the pressure off a bit maybe.

“Goalscoring is something I want to bring to my game.”