WHEN captain Steven Schumacher flopped in his chair for the post-match interview after Saturday’s match, he looked a man who had put in a real shift.

Bury had just put in another lung-busting performance to record their fourth point of the week, following on from last Tuesday’s first win of the season against Hartlepool.

Midfielder Schumacher was clearly shattered – testament to the double training sessions manager Kevin Blackwell has put in place since taking charge at Gigg Lane a month ago.

The new Bury boss has made it his mission to instil a much higher tempo in  play since taking charge, and the effect on results has been telling.

Before his arrival, they had lost four in five games. Since taking over, Bury have lost just three in eight, picking up six League One points along the way and qualifying for the northern quarter-finals of the Johnstone’s Paint Trophy.

Yet Bury’s revival has not just been down to them becoming fitter and stronger, as Schumacher explained.

“Overall, he’s making us realise a little bit more what we’re doing right and what we’re doing wrong,” he said.

“The sessions are getting stopped an awful lot more and he’s asking the lads ‘Why am I stopping it? What have you done? Could you have played that pass better?’

“So people are getting their own jobs nailed down more.

“If everyone concentrates on doing their own job and does it to the best of their ability then the whole team performance improves, so I reckon that’s the big difference.”

The players have also been given homework to do.

Schumacher added: “We are given leaflets, thick leaflets, with all of our individual jobs – where we are all picking up on set-pieces, what we are doing, what’s the game-plan and what to expect from the other team.

“He has also got everybody thinking what they need to do as a group. He has worked on everything – movement from the front players, midfield players creating angles to receive the ball – while everyone has had to work harder off the ball.”

In return for all the hard work, Blackwell has vowed to support his players by creating a more professional atmosphere for them to work in.

He has recruited a sports science intern from Salford University and brought technology to the training pitch and into the dressing room to allow players to analyse their own performance.

And simple innovations, like ensuring new balls are used in every training session so they don’t get wet and heavy, have made all the difference.

Former Sunderland stopper Trevor Carson has also benefited from the appointment of Fred Barber as full-time goalkeeping coach.

“The new manager has come in and brought in new ideas and you can see the lads have switched on to it,” said the 24-year-old Northern Ireland international.

“The days are a lot longer in training, but if it’s going to benefit us then, of course, we are going to switch on to it.

“We have gone through a lot of set-pieces, you know it is back to basics when you are in the situation we are in.

“But none of the lads can complain about it. We all know we need to get on the training ground to put things right.”