BURY marksman Gareth Seddon looks set to lose his fitness race for Tuesday's LDV Vans Trophy clash with Tranmere thanks to a quirk of the fixture list writes Chris Hall

Manager Andy Preece reckons his striker needs two more reserve appearances to fully recover from a spate of injuries caused by a blood disorder.

But the second string, like the first team, have no fixtures this week and only one before the Rovers visit Gigg Lane for the northern quarter-final.

That should be enough to see the long-awaited return of midfield ace George Clegg, who has been sidelined for two months after damaging knee ligaments in the Worthington Cup triumph at Bolton.

But the cup tie could come too soon for the front man who finished last season as the club's joint top goalscorer.

"Cleggy and Gareth shouldn't be far off but there's no reserve game this week, which is a blow," said Preece.

"George should be okay after Monday but Gareth really needs one more game after that."

Meanwhile Preece has finally managed to secure the services of Steve Redmond and Liam George for another month.

Both players' short term deals expired following last week's 1-0 win over Exeter, in which George scored the winning goal and Redmond shone at the heart of the back four.

But now they have put pen to paper on new contracts which keep them at Gigg Lane until after Christmas.

"They have both done well during the last month," said Preece.

"They have earned that and now have got to keep going and try and earn longer contracts by repeating their performances in recent weeks.

"We are not in a great position financially and unfortunately short term contracts is the only way we can go. We have to get the club on a stable footing and the players appreciate that.

"As long as they keep performing as they are, then it will be reviewed week by week."

The break from first team action, due to their early exit from the FA Cup, ironically could not have come at a better time for Bury.

Morale could have taken a battering if Shakers had embarked on a matchless fortnight having slipped down the table.

But their victory over Exeter on Saturday lifted them from eighth to fifth in the table - just three points shy of an automatic promotion spot - and has taken the edge off a punishing training schedule enforced by Preece this week.

"We know we aren't going to move from fifth spot for at least another week or so and that is a nice position to be in," said the tough taskmaster.

"Now we can get some hard work done on the training ground to keep the fitness levels up so we can build on this form.

"After ten games we had 15 points and I said we needed to repeat that to stay in the same position. We have actually increased that and moved higher up. We just have to keep setting ourselves achievable targets."