BURY’S tough run of fixtures continues on Saturday when they host play-off chasing Bootle - but boss Anthony Johnson says it will be another test of their own title credentials.
The Shakers remain top of NPL West thanks to a 2-0 win at Kidsgrove Athletic, the only side not in the promotion picture in their current tricky five-game run.
Bury have beaten Lower Breck in a top-of-the-table clash, lost to high-flying Vauxhall Motors with Bootle and third-placed Runcorn Linnets to come in their next two games.
“We seem to have had a tough run of games against sides in and around us, Johnson told the club website.
“We’ve had Breck, Vauxhall, Bootle and Runcorn on the bounce with Kidsgrove splitting it.
“So it will be a tough little run, but we find out where we are. We find out how good we are, whether we deserve to be where we are at this moment in time.
“So, tough game. They’ve been on a really good run. They drew with Vauxhall last week who beat us, so we know what’s coming.”
Johnson revealed he may try and strengthen his squad with seven games to go to cover a lengthy injury list - an issue which meant Bury had to hold on to striker Joe Piggott.
“ I’ve got to be honest, so everyone’s got to talk transparency, Joe Piggott was leaving the football club,” said Johnson. “We’ve had to hold on to his registration because we were down to the bare bones.
“It was an agreed conversation last week with Big Joe, but as I said, we needed him due to the fact that we’ve got injuries.”
Connor Pye and Owen Robinson - back earlier than expected - both started on Saturday while Rustam Stepans made his return off the bench in Saturday’s win.
“Connor Pye and Owen Robinson weren’t meant to be starting games of football for another week or so yet. So they’ve started the game and came through it. Same with Rusty, we wanted to expose him to a few minutes...we managed to get 15/20 minutes out of him as well.”
He added: “We move forward, the squad’s the squad we’ve got got in the building.
“If we can add to it, we will try to do, but with the deadline fast approaching and sides, especially higher up the pyramid, carrying an eighteen-man matchday squad, it’s difficult to get lads out on loan.
“It’s tough, you lose Leo (Graham, recalled by Wigan Athletic) to a loan, Bobby (Carroll) gets injured in the same game.
“I thought all the lads that came in, quite a few of them who played for me for the first time, I thought were very good.
“It’s been a bit of a strange week when you come into a new job only a month into it. You don’t expect to be counting the medical room as much as we probably have, but we’ve got over it and the lads are putting a still in performance there in terms of getting the result and doing what’s required.”
