BURY will play their first game on their new state-of-the-art 3G pitch on Saturday - and boss Dave McNabb can’t wait.

The Shakers have been on the road for the opening three league and cup games of the season while work has been completed on the new Gigg Lane surface.

While the club held a trial event last week, they get to play on it for real this weekend when they host Irlam in NWCL Premier Division.

“It is eye-watering when you walk out, I was in the ground early and just to come out and see the pitch, it looks amazing and obviously the setting,” he told the club website.

“The volunteers in the ground have done an amazing job, it all looks fresh and clean and tidy. It is a fundamental step for the club in terms of it moving to a seven day operating model for the first time in the club’s history.”

Bury go in to the game on the back of a 4-2 win at Congleton Town in the FA Cup which sets up a trip to Avro in the next round on August 17.

McNabb says the new pitch will give Bury a permanent training base and also avoid the fixture pile-up which plagued them last season with so many games postponed due to the poor playing surface.

“The pitch gives us consistency in terms of the playing surface, it is just a massive step and it felt so good to be there,” he added.

“Another bonus from winning the game is that we have a full week of training next week to work on, somethings we have worked on ahead of Irlam.

“It is a brand new surface, it’s got some quirks, it will take some time to settle so training on there twice this week will be massively beneficial.”

Looking ahead to Saturday’s clash, McNabb added: “They are a very good team, they are one of those sides who, on their day are as good as anyone in the league if not better

I’m sure they will say consistency was their issue last year but on their day they can beat anyone in the league and I think they have picked up a couple of very good players, obviously Declan (Daniels) has gone back, they have added a couple of strong players so it will be a tough, tough game no doubt about that.

“But we are confident, we are playing well at the moment so we have to go in there and impose ourselves on the game.”

Bury have scored 13 goals in the opening three league and cup games with four coming against Congleton on Saturday where young striker Tanaka Cherera scored a hat-trick while Reuben Jerome scored his first goal for the club.

“It was a tough game,” added McNabb. “We knew it was going to be a tough game coming in to it, Congleton are riding on the quest of a wave in terms of performances last season. They won the league, promotion, cup competitions so you can see why they are a close knit group, work together, work off each other, they know each other’s game inside out and we knew we were going to be in for a battle.

“I don’t think we were at our best in spells but you go in to an FA Cup weekend and you want to be in the hat and we have shown our qualities in spells and we also had to show the ugly side of the game as well as we finished the game with 10 men because of injuries. So we have battled through as well. So two pleasing things there.”

McNabb praised the efforts of Cherera.

“A hat-trick in the FA Cup, not sure many players got one of them (at the weekend),” he said. “He is a good lad, he is still very raw, still got a lot to learn but he is 19 years of age and I think he is at the best place at the moment for his development. He loves it and you can see what he can do what he can do when he is on his game.”

While the Shakers have been scoring for fun, they have also conceded more goals than they would have like - something McNabb knows has to be worked on.

“We have got a lot of work to do as a defensive unit and that is not just the back four or centre halves or goalkeeper, it is about the whole team and how we defend,” he said.

“We have got to be better, it is a work in progress. Again it is limited contact time in terms of when all the squad has been available so there is still a lot to work on.

“But obviously at the other end of the pitch we are frightening.”