By Phil Thorp: SHAKERS wonderkid David Borley has given the club a massive lift by signing a new contract.

He and another of the Gigg Lane side's promising youngsters, defender Michael Nelson, have put pen to paper on two-and-a-half year deals.

The double signing takes the number of players pledging their allegiance to the Shakers in the last two weeks to six after skipper Martyn Forrest, Lee Unsworth, Danny Swailes and Jamie Stuart all signed extended contracts last week.

"David has been superb for us this year and there's no doubt he can go on to play at the highest level," said Shakers manager Andy Preece.

"For him to commit himself to Bury FC shows the fans just what a spirit we have at the club.

"The same goes for Michael who began the season as a shining light and is getting back to that kind of form.

"It shows we are doing things right or players of this calibre wouldn't want to stay at the club."

There was more good news for Preece this week after Jon Newby had a one match ban overturned after speaking out of turn to an official after the Wrexham game back in September.

The Football League appeal committee decided that the misdemeanour didn't warrant a suspension and issued the Shakers leading scorer with a £300 fine instead.

"Things are going our way all of a sudden this week," said Preece.

"We've signed two more of our top players on, Jon's ban has been kicked out and the reserves had a superb 2-1 win over Stoke.

"It was nice to see the appeal go our way after the disappointment of Steve Redmond losing his the other week."

Redmond is rated 50-50 for tomorrow's relegation clash with bottom club Cambridge at Gigg Lane, while Borley is still struggling with a groin strain and Ian Lawson (knee), Nicky Hill (ankle) and Paul Reid (hamstring) are all major doubts.

Cambridge's confidence should be shot to bits after two home defeats over the last few days.

Confidence was high at the Abbey Stadium that good results in their three games this week move them to within striking distance of safety.

But after taking the lead after 18 seconds against Colchester United on Saturday they slumped to a 2-1 defeat and that was followed by a 1-0 reverse at the hands of Port Vale on Wednesday night.

To make matters worse for U's manager John Taylor - who took over from John Beck in November - he is likely to be missing leading scorer Dave Kitson (hernia) while midfielder Ian Ashbee (hamstring) is also definitely out and influential skipper Paul Wanless got a bang on a troublesome ankle on Wednesday and is rated extremely doubtful.

Sources close to the club even suggest that Taylor may rest some of his first team squad in readiness for the LDV Vans Trophy Southern final clash at Bristol City next Tuesday.

With relegation looking a near certainty it's thought that a moneyspinning trip to Cardiff's Millennium Stadium for the final against Blackpool later this season may be worth saving tired legs for given the score is 0-0 from the first leg.