DAVID Flitcroft has been like a child waiting for Christmas since guiding Bury to promotion from League Two, but his wait for third-tier football is almost over.

The Shakers boss has had a busy week off the field fine-tuning his squad before Saturday’s opening game at Doncaster.

He laid bare his defensive concerns after Bury’s 3-2 victory over Preston in their final pre-season encounter, highlighting the fact he only had two senior centre-backs – captain Nathan Cameron and summer signing Peter Clarke – available for selection.

Just two days before kick-off, it remains unclear how Flitcroft will cover that defensive gap.

He could hand trialist defender Reece Brown a contract, recall 16-year-old defender Matty Foulds from the youth team’s tour of Holland or even unveil a surprise 11th-hour signing.

The Bury manager must also decide whether to hand on-trial central midfielder Dean Furman a deal.

But whatever last-minute questions Flitcroft is agonising over, his over-riding emotion is one of excitement.

“I have (looked forward to it) since we got promoted last season,” he said.

“To have Wigan down there in our league, Sheffield United, Bradford, Millwall, these are big football clubs.

“Blackpool were a Premier League club a couple of years ago so it’s going to be brilliant to test ourselves against them.

“We tested ourselves against Preston (who were promoted from League One last season) and didn’t embarrass ourselves.

“It’s ok doing that in a one off (game) but I want to see now if we can do it as a football club consistently.”

Flitcroft expects to have a fully-fit squad to choose from for the trip to the Keepmoat Stadium, apart from reserve centre-back Keil O’Brien and striker Ryan Lowe, who damaged ankle ligaments in training a month ago and has not played since.

The remaining players carrying knocks and niggles all featured in Saturday’s win, with star man Danny Mayor returning and Jacob Mellis, Danny Nardiello, Kelvin Etuhu and Tutte all getting their first run-out of pre-season.

And it is clear, in his post-match comments, that Flitcroft now feels ready to embrace the challenges ahead.

“I think playing games against these big League One clubs will be the measure of how far Bury have come and I am excited by it, and the lads are as well," he said.

“The lads I’ve recruited want to be challenging in this league and want to be competing in this league.

“The lads from last season, I don’t need to tell anyone what they want, they want success.

“They are driven and hungry and a real honest group so I am really looking forward to getting the game at Doncaster started and then for a competitive season ahead.”