NOBODY ever said it was going to be easy for Bury and Peter Shirtliff after they were dealt a tough hand by the fixture computer.

But after being given a five-match trial by the board of directors, the cold hard facts are that the caretaker boss has reaped just two points.

Not a great bargaining position.

For the first three games, at least, the 51-year-old stand-in manager could point to positive performances as a cause for optimism.

Bury could, and probably should ,have won the two games they drew – at home to Brentford and at Coventry – and were sunk by a last-gasp winner at Doncaster.

These were all matches against highly-fancied sides that the Shakers were not expected to garner points from.

The same could be said for Notts County at home – a match that Bury dominated, but fell foul of two sucker punches.

There were very few positives, however, to take from Saturday’s defeat to Preston.

Apart from the opening 25 minutes, when Bury created a handful of half-chances, they posed little or no threat to Graham Westley’s well-drilled promotion contenders.

Shirtliff was most upset with his defence at the final whistle after they conceded two goals for the fourth game running.

Yet apart from a couple of lapses in concentration at corner kicks, the back-line held pretty firm.

Mark Hughes – voted Bury’s player of the month for August – held his hand up to losing his marker, Efe Sodje’s brother Akpo, for Preston’s 28th minute opener. Lenell John-Lewis and Joe Skarz then collided to give Preston’s Shane Cansdell-Sherriff a free header for their second, 20 minutes after the break.

Shirtliff warned after the match that a few senior players would be dropped if he was still picking the team for Saturday’s trip to Sheffield United, but it’s hard to imagine who he could replace to strengthen the team, unless, that is, he was planning to change his lop-sided 4-4-2 formation.

Hughes may have made a mistake, but he looks to have formed a good partnership with Adam Lockwood at the heart of Bury’s defence, while left-back Skarz played another blinder and goalkeeper Trevor Carson has hardly put a foot wrong since signing over the summer.

The midfield quartet of Mark Carrington, Steven Schumacher, Peter Sweeney and David Worrall may not have set the world alight this season, but they have not been over-run in any game and stood up well to the rough and tumble of Preston.

The only real concern is that the midfield has been imbalanced, with Sweeney often drifting inside from his starting position on the left in a bid to affect the play.

But Bury have looked fluid going forward in almost every game and have created plenty of chances - the real issue, identified by captain Schumacher after the latest defeat, is that they have not been unable to put them away.

Skarz is top scorer with two after heading Saturday’s injury-time consolation, while Shirtliff’s preferred strike force of John-Lewis and Cullen have only one between them and drew a blank again on Saturday.

Cullen was the biggest culprit this weekend after John-Lewis missed a hatful of chances against Notts County.

The on-loan Hull forward started brightly but was caught in two minds when David Worrall set him up with a great through ball in the 25th minute. After choosing not to shoot, he rolled a weak centre to John-Lewis that was easily cut out, to the collective groans of the Gigg Lane faithful.

It’s possible to argue that Shirtliff inherited his striking problem from previous manager Richie Barker.

It was Barker who loaned out Shaun Harrad to Cheltenham without the option of a recall, presumably to clear space in the wage budget for the marquee signing he felt Bury needed to challenge in League One.

David Healy finally arrived two games into the season, scoring on his debut at Coventry, but has been injured for the last two matches. Harrad, in the meantime, has been scoring for fun at Cheltenham.

The arrival of Healy also seems to have affected the morale of Andy Bishop, who was dropped to make space for the Northern Ireland striker at Coventry and then promptly asked to be loaned out.

It’s doubtful that Bury could accommodate two ageing strikers in the same line-up, but until Cullen, John-Lewis and the overlooked Lateef Elford-Alliyu start firing, the Shakers , and certainly Shirtliff, could live to regret their summer transfer dealings.

BURY: (4-4-2) Carson 6; Picken 6 (A Jones 7), M Hughes 6, Lockwood 6, Skarz 7; Worrall 6, Carrington 6 (Byrne 6), Schumacher 6, Sweeney 6 ; Cullen 5 (C Jones 6), John-Lewis 5.

Not used: Sodje, Marshall , Elford-Alliyu, Dibble.

PRESTON: (4-3-3) Stuckmann; Wright, Huntington, Cansdell-Sherriff, Laird; Keane (Byrom), Wroe, Welsh; Beavon, Monakana (Amoo), A Sodje (Beardsley).

Not used: Buchanan, King, Simonsen, Hayhurst.

Referee: Darren Drysdale

Attendance: 5,213 (2,706)