BURY skipper Antony Kay has issued a rallying cry to his team-mates as they look to seek instant revenge on Wimbledon this weekend.

The Shakers suffered a humiliating 5-0 defeat at the Dons in the FA Cup on Tuesday, a result that ultimately cost the club’s Bolton-based manager David Flitcroft his job.

The Bury boss and his assistant Ben Futcher left the club yesterday, leaving head of football Chris Brass and youth team manager Ryan Kidd to lead the team before a permanent successor is found.

It will be up to Brass and Kidd to lift morale in the dressing room following a run of 11 winless matches.

But Kay made his own rallying cry following Tuesday night’s defeat, urging the players to right the wrongs of the cup replay shock.

“We lost 5-0 but we have to come back on Saturday in a totally different way,” he said. “We need to be like animals, every single player in that dressing room, including myself, needs to pull their finger out.

“When you are in a rut, and we are in one at the minute, it’s tough. We just need that one spark, which starts with three points and a win, and we will try everything and do everything on Saturday to get the three points.

“It is a little bit of a blessing that we are back at Wimbledon.

“Every one of the players now needs to prove a point.

“We have been embarrassed and it’s hurting every one of us.”

Injuries to key defensive players, such as Nathan Cameron and Craig Jones, have had a dramatic effect on Bury’s form, which has nosedived since they moved up to second in League One at the end of September.

Summer-signing Kay has been an ever present since being snapped up by Flitcroft on a free transfer as a direct replacement for Oldham-bound centre-back Peter Clarke.

He is not willing to use injuries as an excuse and says the squad has enough experience to end their winless run at the Cherry Red Records Stadium.

“We have had a lot of injuries and everybody knows that, but we can’t use that as an excuse,” Kay said.

“As a team we have not been performing and we know that. We need to put it to bed as soon as possible.

“We have got an experienced team in that dressing room, we need to pull together. It’s not just me as a captain, there are other players who have been captains in that team who have performed at a higher level.”