BURY are desperate to boost their squad before Saturday. Injuries and outgoing transfers have left the Shakers down the bare bones as they prepare for the trip to Portsmouth which manager Neil Warnock describes as a relegation six-pointer.

Bury were forced to throw Tony Rigby in at the deep end in last Saturday's 3-0 home defeat by Ipswich even though the midfielder was well short of match and general fitness. Warnock's hopes of striking a loan deal have been hit by the recent freezing spell. He explained: "We wanted to look at players at a couple of games this week but both were called off because of the weather.

"I want to bring someone in on loan and I'm not looking at any position in particular because we can move one or two players around." Warnock says the mysterious rash which forced skipper Chris Lucketti to be sent home from training earlier this week is unlikely to keep him out of the Pompey trip. But the central defender's knee injury which sidelined him against Ipswich is still causing concern. "It will be a big plus if Chris makes it because this is a big game for us, a real six-pointer."

Midfielder Mark Patterson could step straight back into the relegation fight after returning from a loan spell at Blackpool.

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