HOME comforts could help turn Bury's dip in form around as they prepare for their second of five home games in the space of three weeks.

The Shakers have been through a rough patch of late but following Tuesday's brilliant 1-0 victory over Sheffield United at Gigg Lane they were finally able to breathe a sigh of relief.

After slipping down the table in recent months, Bury, who have moved back up to 14th in League One, now have a chance to rekindle some of their early-season form, which saw them rise as high as third in the table.

Chris Brass – head of football operations and former caretaker manager – has explained the squad will not get carried away with the win against the Blades, and instead will look to build on the victory when basement club Colchester visit Gigg Lane on Saturday.

“We will try to back up our performance, we will not get carried away,” he said.

“Since we came into the football club (two years ago) each time it's a game, reset, go to the next one. Debrief, what's the plan for the next one and on you go, so it'll be exactly the same.

“I think our home performances have been okay throughout the course of the season.

“Obviously we are still trying to address the away form, but our home form and performances have been okay or good.

“Certainly our home comforts do help, I think we saw (on Tuesday) just what the boys are capable of doing.”

Bury face a heavy fixture schedule due to the postponement of the Boxing Day game at home to Barnsley and rearrangements caused by their fantastic run to the fourth round of the FA Cup.

And the build up of games, with the Barnsley game rescheduled for Tuesday, means every Shakers player will have to stand up and be counted as they are utilised over the coming weeks.

“We are carrying a small squad and we have to use everybody,” Brass added.

“We knew coming into the season that ideally we would have wished to be able to change it and rest players and everything else, but the realism is that where we are at and the budget that we work with we have got a good (small) group of players that we believe in.”

The Shakers could be boosted by the return of forward Danny Rose and goalkeeper Rob Lainton from injury ahead of Saturday's game.

But Kelvin Etuhu, who picked up a hamstring injury against Hull in the FA Cup and limped off in Saturday's 6-0 defeat at Coventry after returning sooner than planned, is a major doubt.

Brass said: “Danny (Rose) came through the day okay so fingers crossed, and Rob (Lainton). We'll keep assessing them but the good thing is that we are, squad-wise, very comfortable with the situation.

“He (Etuhu) came back and it was just unfortunate that he just felt it.

"He had two good days training and again we don't think it's as serious as we thought.

“Its a sign of Kelvin and it's a sign of the group as well. He wanted to get out there, he knew we were going through a rough time in respect of form and things and he wanted to get out there.

“That's what this group is. The players are all honest, they want to get it, do what they've got to do but on reflection he was just a little bit keener than what he wanted to be and suffered.

"Fingers crossed he should be (back) sooner rather than later.”