THE TV cameras roll into the stadium formerly known as Gigg Lane this evening as Bury host Championship side Sunderland in the first round of the Carabao Cup.

The Shakers head into the game, which is live on Sky Sports, as huge underdogs against Simon Grayson’s Black Cats who were recently relegated from the Premier League.

However, the hosts may hold one advantage as striker Jermaine Beckford is among their ranks – a player who is not shy of a cup upset or two.

The 33-year-old scored one of the most memorable FA Cup goals of all time as former side Leeds United knocked Manchester United out of the competition in 2010.

But how is Beckford able to keep so cool on the biggest of stages?

“It’s 11 men against 11 men, that’s all it is,” Beckford said ahead of tonight’s crunch clash. “Being on TV doesn’t affect anything, it’s a camera.

“I don’t mind a cup goal. It’s one of those things that I’ve been quite fortunate enough in my career to have been able to score one or two on TV – and it’s my job, to be honest.”

A bumper crowd is expected for tonight’s tie and Beckford thinks home advantage could strengthen the chances of getting a result.

“Without the fans we would just be 11 guys playing football against 11 guys on a park,” he added. “It’s the fans that make the atmosphere – they are what makes football as competitive as it is.

“Without the fans it wouldn’t be the same.

“You hear people say it all the time ‘the fans are the 12th man,’ they really are, they make a massive difference.

“As you heard on Saturday our fans were brilliant and that’s the kind of thing we’re going to need throughout the rest of the season.”

Beckford made his Bury debut at the weekend against Walsall and had an early penalty saved in the second minute.

But the miss did not make the slightest dent in the striker’s confidence, and when the next opportunity to score from 12 yards presents itself he is confident of tucking it away.

“Of course I’m still on pens,” Beckford insists. “I say he saved it, it’s a great save – I didn’t miss it. There’s a difference.

“How often can you say a goalkeeper made two fantastic penalty saves in one game?

“Sometimes these things happen but fair do’s to the goalkeeper, these things happen.”

The former Preston and Bolton forward did get on the scoresheet on the stroke of half time when he headed home Chris Maguire’s free kick. And in typical Beckford fashion he playfully put his fingers up to his lips while running past the 681 visiting Walsall supporters who had given him grief about the earlier penalty miss.

“I was just having fun,” he replied when asked about the celebration, but he still took time out after the match to laugh at photos of himself silencing the critics.

“Look at him,” he said, laughing at one snap shot of himself shushing a travelling fan who was showing him the middle finger.

Beckford is clearly enjoying being the key man around the Energy Check Stadium and his humour is second-to-none, on and off the pitch.

The ex-Chelsea youngster has forged a career by scoring important goals at every level of English football and despite being near the tail-end of his career, he has learned to cherish each goal as much as the last.

He said: “I have been quite fortunate in my career to have scored quite a few goals and I enjoy the next one more so than the last one, because it reminds me I’ve still got the hunger. I’ve still got the positioning, I can still do it.

“It’s something I’ve enjoyed doing and I’ll always enjoy doing.”

Manager Lee Clark is keen to partner Charlton loanee Nicky Ajose with Beckford at the top of his attack as he did against the Saddlers.

And the striker believes, given time, they will be a deadly duo.

“Naturally in time we’ll become lethal,” Beckford said. “It is the first day, I don’t think you can read too much into anybody’s performance, particularly the first half where we performed under par. We were no more than 65 or 70 per cent, tops.

“It’s working but obviously it was the first game of the season so everybody is trying to get used to everybody else.”