| Wrexham' second away game of the week sees Brian
Little looking to maintain his unbeaten start as Wrexham manager with a
trip to Gigg Lane to face a Bury side who last tasted a home league
defeat back in mid September. Five games
have passed since Chester left Gigg Lane with all three points and Bury currently
occupy fourth spot in the home for league with three wins and two draws
in their last five games.
In fact, Bury had been on an unbeaten run of eight
games unbeaten but two defeats in their last two away games has left the
Shakers in 12th spot with a return of 23 points from their 17 games.
Bury were in the relegation zone before the start of
this run but the improved form has left the Shakers in mid table but
only six points adrift of the final play off position.
Manager Chris Casper has also steered his side into
the third round of the FA Cup, where they will face a trip to
Championship side Norwich after defeating non league Wokingham and
Exeter in rounds one and two respectively.
Nicky Adams scored the only goal of the game against
Exeter on the weekend and the former trainee is joint top scorer with
eight this season from midfield along with striker Andy Bishop.
Bishop joined the Shakers from York at the start of
last season and he has continued his good goal scoring record from the
last campaign to take his tally to 30 in just eighteen months with Bury.
Not surprisingly, this record has attracted interest
from clubs in higher divisions with Ipswich having a six figure bid
turned down and Dario Gradi has earmarked Bishop as a potential signing
for his Crewe side.
Manager Chris Casper, along with Director of Football
Keith Alexander, have used the loan market to bolster their squad with
the capture of two teenagers before deadline day.
Striker Liam Hughes has joined from Wolverhampton but
is yet to play for his parent club and Sean McAllister has arrived from
Sheffield Wednesday after enjoying a two month spell with Mansfield so
far this season.
Chris Casper is in his third season in charge of the
club after starting his managerial career back in September 2005 and is
the youngest manager in the Football league at only 32.
He has been assisted by the experienced Keith
Alexander who joined as Director of Football back in the summer with the
former Lincoln and Peterborough manager responsible for club transfers
whilst Casper retains the final say on team selection.
Recent Encounters:
Last season's encounter at the Racecourse was an
eventful match with Wrexham reduced to nine men with both Chris
Llewellyn and Ryan Valentine receiving straight red cards for reckless
fouls in the second half.
Lee McEvilly had given us a first half lead and it was
a lead we held until injury time when Glyn Hurst equalised with seconds
to spare.
The first match also went the way of Bury with Dwayne Mattis scoring the only goal of the game and you have to go back to May
2003 for our last victory over the Shakers.
The overall head-to-head sees us ahead with 18 wins in
the league compared to 7 for Bury and there have also been 11 draws in
the 36 games between the sides.
Team News:
Brian Little has hinted that Wrexham will switch back
to a 5-3-2 formation for the visit to Bury after deploying Michael
Proctor as a loan striker in the goalless draw at Rochdale on the
weekend.
Marc Williams was favoured over Eifion Williams as a
substitute for Proctor in this game and he may well be pushing for a
first team start after scoring a hat trick for the reserves last week.
Elsewhere, Silvio Spann and Ryan Valentine return to
the squad but Mark Jones and Danny Williams are still unavailable with
back injuries.
Bury have midfielders Lee Bullock and Sean McAllister
back after they missed the weekend's FA Cup second round win.
Dave Challinor is two weeks away from full fitness,
but Nicky Adams and Andrew Mangan should keep their places.
Elsewhere in League Two:
After a break for the FA Cup, league leaders MK Dons
travel to our next opponents Dagenham & Redbridge who are in need of
some points as they struggle at the wrong end of the table.
Mansfield only separate us and Dagenham and the Stags
are at home to Bradford on the Wednesday night whilst bottom placed
Lincoln travel to mid table Stockport a day before. |
