FORMER Bury boss Mike Walsh admits he cannot believe why a big club has not come in for Chris Lucketti. Walsh, the assistant manager at tomorrow's opponents Swindon Town, set Lucketti on the way to a Football League career when he plucked him out of non-league football with Halifax Town for a bargain £50,000.

He admits the deal was a bit of a gamble at the time but that it quickly became clear he had got the centre half on the cheap.

"Chris was something of a gamble because he had only been playing non-league," said Walsh today.

"But I knew after a few months that he was going to be okay.

"I am surprised that no-one has come in for him before now because he is a dominant defender who is good in the air and has good pace.

"If he had been a little bit better with his feet than I am certain he would have been playing at a higher level." Walsh was in charge at Gigg Lane for five years before he was sacked three and a half years ago. But his legacy lives on with four of his bargain signings - Lucketti, Nick Daws, Lenny Johnrose and Andy Woodward - regulars in the first team and another, Tony Rigby, an important member of Neil Warnock's squad.

Lucketti says: "Mike Walsh was good for me personally and we came within a whisker of winning promotion with him in charge.

"He basically signed the nucleus of the side we have today and I'm looking forward to talking over old times with him tomorrow. But when the whistle blows to start the game you have no friends in football and the only thing on your mind is doing well for Bury." Woodward is a doubt for tomorrow with a sore throat as Shakers bid to clinch their first away win of the season. They have, however, been cheered by draws in their last two games against Huddersfield and QPR.

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