Brentford 5 Bury 1 y Steve Canavan

IF the team bus had broken down on the way home, it would have been completely in keeping with a horror night for the Shakers.

In what was probably Andy Preece's worst ever game in charge, five goals were slammed past Paddy Kenny, Chris Billy and Michael Nelson were stretchered off and new boy Jamie Stuart red-carded.

In short, it was a night when nothing went right. Perhaps the only bright spot was the hard-working performance of Jon Newby, though by the end of the night the striker could have been forgiven for wishing he had gone to Oldham after all. And yet the Shakers were hard done by.

Even Brentford boss Steve Coppell admitted: "It was never a 5-1," and said he had every sympathy with his managerial counterpart.

Needless to say Preece was not happy, though the main target of his anger was the official Paul Rejer.

"I don't want to say anything about the ref," said Preece, wary of being fined.

One could understand Preece's fury. It is bad enough watching a team concede five goals but when the referee makes a number of very harsh decisions - such as two penalties and a sending off - then it is easy to lose your temper.

Bury made the worst possible start. Pacey forward Lloyd Owusu struck after just 32 seconds, followed on eight minutes by a Paul Gibbs penalty after an alleged Jamie Stuart foul.

After half time, Owusu scored again, against the run of play. George Syros, having a poor game, did grab one back, heading home Paul Reid's corner, but Brentford wrapped the match up when Blackburn loan man Ben Burgess scored a fourth and then Gibbs added his second penalty after another poor refereeing decision penalised Syros. BURY: Kenny 6, Redmond 6, Nelson 7, Syros 6, Stuart 6, Forrest 6, Jarrett 6, Reid 6, Billy 5, NEWBY 8, Seddon 7. Subs: Murphy (for Billy 32), Swailes (for Nelson 90), Collins, Clegg, Whiteman. Att: 5,389.

BURY BOOKINGS: Syros 43, Murphy 45, Reid 55, Nelson 63, Forrest 90. REF: Paul Rejer 3.