BURY aim to get back to winning ways at Huddersfield tomorrow - and at least they won't have to face a man rated one of the best ever central defenders the Shakers have had.

Chris Lucketti, who left Gigg Lane in 1999 to join the Terriers, was on the move again yesterday, signing for Preston North End yesterday for a fee of £750,000.

Lucketti was a legend at Bury, won player of the year and was voted the best central defender of all time in a newspaper poll.

Many fans will have been looking forward to seeing him in action tomorrow but Lucketti opted to sign for North End after Huddersfield boss Lou Macari made it clear he was allowed to let his club captain leave.

Following hot on the heels of Tuesday night's embarrassing home Worthington Cup defeat to Rochdale, it is another major blow for Huddersfield. And though tomorrow's clash sounds a tough trip for the Shakers on paper, Andy Preece's side could not be playing their opponents at a better time.

And Bury could do with a win too, just to stop the rot after successive home defeats against QPR and Sheffield Wednesday.

However, Preece isn't worried by those setbacks.

Positives

"If we'd had played poorly in those games I'd have expected our confidence to have dropped but that wasn't the case," he explained.

"There were positives to be taken from both defeats and as long as we don't continue to lose when we are playing well then it is not a problem.

Tomorrow's clash at the McAlpine Stadium takes former Terriers Paul Reid, Chris Billy and Sam Collins back to their old stomping ground.

Indian international Baichung Bhutia, who suffered a knee injury during the QPR game, has not been completely ruled out of the match.

He trained yesterday and, although complained of a little pain in his knee, Preece will wait and see just how he improves over the next 24 hours.

"We aren't 100 per cent sure about Baichung's fitness at present," he said. "We have two games over the weekend and I'd rather he was completely fit for one of them than have him turn out and quit after 20 minutes, we'll see how he goes."

Preece is also likely to stick with Lee Unsworth at right back instead of Matt Barrass, after admitting he was impressed by Unsworth's contribution against Sheffield Wednesday.

It is a tough weekend ahead with Swindon Town the visitors to Gigg Lane on Bank Holiday Monday, kick off 3pm.

THE Shakers Division Two clash against Wrexham postponed on Friday, August 31 due to international commitments has now been re-arranged for Tuesday, September 11, 2001.