WITH ten games to go to the end of a turbulent season the Shakers are looking to finish with a flourish.

While a late run for the play-off places is surely out of the question, there are more than enough tasty encounters in the final fixtures to keep interest from waning.

The mid-season slump that saw Graham Barrow's men pick up only one victory in seventeen matches was brought to a timely end with the 2-1 victory over Cambridge United last week.

And with another home clash Satuyday there's a great chance to nail another three points on the board and look to go on a late surge up the table.

Bristol Rovers are the visitors to Gigg Lane, another side whose season has fallen away after early promise.

Bury's visit to the Recreation Ground back in August was only their second league game of the season and, fresh from their impressive 3-1 victory over Yeovil Town on the opening day, they fought out a 2-2 draw in an incident-packed encounter that saw Glyn Garner save two penalties and Colin Woodthorpe receive his marching orders.

Both teams looked well set for a successful campaign on that showing which just goes to prove what a difficult and frustrating job football management can be.

Like Barrow, Pirates boss Ian Atkins has been the subject of criticism on his club's website recently and that will have increased after they went out of the LDV Vans Trophy at the southern final stage on Tuesday evening.

A 2-2 draw at Southend United proved their undoing and Atkins has been very critical of a number of his players who made elementary defensive errors at Roots Hall.

Meanwhile, Barrow is hoping that the return of skipper Dave Challinor and the crop of injured players that boosted the squad last weekend is going to increase competition for places and, in turn, improve results over the final few weeks.

"Whether people agreed with the decision to drop Jon Newby and Brian Barry-Murphy last week or not, it did serve as a wake up call for the squad,"he said.

"I don't mind players getting angry about being left out as long as they take it out on the opposition, like Jon did last week.

"We need the players to be on top of their form and I thought the fact there was more competition for places showed last week.

"If you go through the whole team there were a lot of good performances and everybody contributed.

"We want to maintain that gap between ourselves and the bottom clubs and extend it by getting as much as possible out of our final ten games."

Challinor's availability gives the manager a chance to shuffle the pack a little more, although Gary Harkins has returned after his month on loan from Blackburn Rovers.

Bas Savage, who has been a disappointment since arriving on loan from Reading, is likely to return to the Madejski Stadium after Saturday's game but Barrow will continue to keep his eyes peeled for loan talent to strengthen his squad ahead of the transfer deadline.

"When the loan players all go back we could be down to 15 first team players again,"he said.

"That's going to leave us very stretched. I'd like to think we could bring players in as we still have three loan deals left.

"Over the Easter period we could end up with a strong team one game and be down to a reserve side the next.

"We have been taking in plenty of games but it isn't an easy task to pinpoint the kind of players we want and can afford."

One player who Barrow has been delighted with since he came back from injury is striker Chris Porter.

Both he and another injury returnee, Dwayne Mattis, have been lively and bubbly this week on the training ground and that augurs well for the team according to the manager.

"It will be great if we can keep Chris's confidence high,"he said.

"If he does have a fault sometimes he lacks confidence, but that is down to his inexperience.

"He has had his doubters but while he has been out of the team I think it has shown what he brings to the team.

"Dave Nugent had his doubters 12 months ago and so did Danny Swailes."

There were also words of praise for the Shakers fans who stayed behind the side last weekend despite going behind to Cambridge in the first half.

"I thought they were fantastic,"added Barrow.

"It could have gone pear-shaped when we went a goal down but they stuck with us all the way.

"Speaking to the players after the game they were very aware of that and the younger players especially appreciated it.

"And, to be fair, I thought they responded well."

Kick-off at Gigg Lane is 3pm.