BURY midfielder Nick Daws' amazing appearance record is being threatened by injury. The Shakers' Mr Consistency is hoping to play his 153rd consecutive match at Sunderland's Stadium of Light tomorrow.

But an Achilles problem means Bury face an anxious wait to learn if they will have the influential Daws in their engine room for one of the toughest missions of the season.

Former non-league star Daws has not missed a game since the Shakers began their meteoric rise from the Third to the First Division and, to make matters worse for Bury, his regular midfield partner throughout Bury's successful recent history, Lenny Johnrose, is also struggling with an ankle knock.

Shakers boss Neil Warnock is already without suspended defender Steve Redmond and must decide whether to switch to a flat back four or shuffle his defensive pack to keep three men in the centre.

Bury go North with their confidence boosted by a four-point haul from their last two games which ended a dismal run of four straight defeats. But Warnock knows the size of the test awaiting his side against Peter Reid's men and then again at Manchester United in the Worthington Cup third round next Wednesday - two games that will see them watched by around 90,000 spectators.

"Everyone at the club is looking forward to these two games, particularly myself and the players," he said.

"The whole country expects us to be beaten in both games, but we will go to both stadiums and give our all.

"We have to be professional and every individual player has to raise themselves more than ever before."

And he warned: "We will have to be 50 times better than against Oxford on Tuesday if we hope to compete with them."

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