JAY O’Shea is ready to make his mark after injury interrupted the start of his Bury career.

The summer signing from Chesterfield was set to be out for six weeks after spraining a knee in the opening-day win against Walsall. But it was another month before he returned to the Shakers’ matchday squad, against Bradford on Saturday.

Now the 26-year-old Irish forward is eager to make up for lost time and manager Lee Clark admits he could start at mid-table Southend on Saturday.

O’Shea came off the bench to score Bury’s third goal in a 3-1 win against the Bantams and almost had a similar impact at Blackpool on Tuesday, putting a stoppage-time effort against the woodwork in a cruel 2-1 defeat that saw the Shakers slip back into League One’s bottom four.

He said: “It’s been frustrating, not being able to help the lads when things weren’t going too well.

“But it’s nice to be back and to get off the mark.

“I haven’t been able to show what I can do and that’s been disappointing, but hopefully I can stay injury-free now and show the Bury fans what I’m about.

“The games are coming thick and fast so the gaffer’s going to need everybody.”

Clark is certainly looking forward to seeing O’Shea’s potential come to fruition.

“He’s a very good player and we’re delighted to have him back,” said Clark. “He’s making great strides, he made great contributions in the two games he came on in.

“He’s chomping at the bit and he’s pushing himself for a starting place. We have to assess him after every game and see how he reacts. It’s the same with Eoghan O’Connell.

“He was really good again on Tuesday night so there are so many positives, but we want consistent results because that was a tough pill to swallow.

“It’s all coming good in terms of getting important players back but we’ve got to get rid of this inconsistency.”