BURY failed to score in a match for the first time this season and League Two Morecambe took full advantage to bring their seven-game winning streak to an end.

Shaun Miller’s late strike proved enough to knock the Shakers out of the Johnstone’s Paint Trophy in the second round.

And manager David Flitcroft admitted his side missed the “devilment” posed by League One player of the month Leon Clarke.

The 30-year-old summer signing, who will find out tomorrow if he has won the divisional player’s prize for September, has scored nine goals in 10 starts this campaign.

But he was one of five players from Saturday’s starting line-up at Colchester who were rested for the cup tie.

“His performance over the season has been fantastic,” said the Bury boss following Clarke’s inclusion on a four-man shortlist that also includes Walsall’s Tom Bradshaw, Colchester keeper Jamie Jones and Rochdale midfielder Peter Vincenti.

“He’s been on the money since he has been in and we are delighted to have him.

“I look at the game and we have probably missed him – his quality, his devilment, his pace and his power. So that is food for thought.”

Flitcroft said he believed the starting line-up, which included a strike force of Tom Pope and Danny Rose, as well as attacking midfielders Hallam Hope and Danny Mayor, would pose enough of a threat to see off Morecambe.

But that did not prove to be the case as a lack of quality in the final third was ultimately to blame for the shock defeat to lower league opposition.

“I'm disappointed. It's a game I really wanted to win. We went into the game really believing that we would win,” said Flitcroft.

"We've done a lot of work setting a game plan up to be quite offensive.

"We tried to attack them but the end product wasn't good enough.

"Just that bit of quality which we are used to now wasn't there.”

In reality, for the 81 minutes before Morecambe’s winner, Bury looked in command.

Academy graduate Scott Burgess returned from a month’s loan at Stalybridge Celtic to partner player/coach Chris Sedgwick in the centre of the park, giving Mayor and Hope the licence to roam.

Senior midfielders Tom Soares, Craig Jones and Danny Pugh dropped to the bench, but the Shakers’ build-up play remained slick, helped by a greasy surface that held up well under heavy rain.

There was only one change at the back as Reece Brown reverted from his usual holding midfield role to the centre of defence in place of Peter Clarke.

The utility player put in a solid display before a late mistake led to the Morecambe goal.

He tired noticeably in the latter stages, but the former Manchester United trainee read the game brilliantly before that to cut out any Morecambe threat.

As a result, Bury stopper Rob Lainton was rarely troubled.

He recovered well to gather an early Lee Molyneux free kick at the second attempt and back-peddled hurriedly to tip over a Shaun Beeley cross before the break.

Lainton’s opposite number Barry Roche made the save of the half, palming away a Brown flick-on from a Chris Hussey free kick.

Rose also had a shot blocked and missed the target with a header from a Mayor cross after a flowing move started by a strong run out of defence from Joe Riley.

Jones and Pugh came on for full-backs Riley and Hussey at the break, but it was to be Jim Bentley’s half-time switch, putting Miller on for Molyneux, that would determine the game.

Miller’s clever pass for Kevin Ellison looked likely to unlock the Bury defence early in the second half.

Ellison was found completely unmarked on the left of the six-yard box but Lainton stuck out his left boot to divert the forward’s low shot inches wide of his far post.

Soares was quickly introduced for Sedgwick to add a bit of urgency to the Bury play and Mayor soon managed their first shot on target of the second half, stinging Roche’s palms with a low drive.

Jones also worked his way into the game with some driving runs and popped up on the left to put the ball on a plate for Pope, but he headed wide.

The Bury striker was unlucky not to score after beating Roche with a 69th-minute header from a Pugh cross but his effort was cleared off the line by Morecambe centre-back Ryan Edwards.

Then, just as the game looked to be heading towards a penalty shootout, Brown was robbed of the ball in the left channel by Jack Ryan.

His centre to fellow substitute Miller cut out Lainton and set up an unmissable chance to land the knockout blow.