Excitement is building at Gigg Lane as the Shakers gear up for the new season which begins with a trip to Squires Gate.

Bury are aiming to bounce back from last season’s penalty shoot-out heartbreak against Wythenshawe Town in the play-off final.

Manager Dave McNabb has overseen a first pre-season with the squad and plenty of new fresh faces have arrived over the past couple of months.

“The league games are where you are counting the days down,” assistant manager Tim Lees told The Bury Times.

“It brings out that extra 20 per cent in terms of the competitiveness – people will fight for that second ball where they might not in pre-season.

“We are excited, it is a tough challenge. We played them last year and they are extremely organised and disciplined, particularly without the ball.

“They have physical threats throughout so we are under no illusions, it is a difficult start away from home.”

The Shakers have had a strong pre-season, racking up victories against Emley, Atherton LR, Ashton Town, Atherton Colls, Nantwich Town, Nelson and Trafford.

“Obviously, it couldn’t have gone any better in terms of results,” Lees added.

“When we first started putting the squad together, there were specific things we wanted and we have pretty much hit every one of our objectives for pre-season.

“In terms of building a style of play, obviously we are changing to a new pitch. We knew we could now play a certain way and have recruited for it, and we have seen massive progress to where we want to be.

“We want to be aggressive with the ball, attack games and play in the opponent’s half.

“We want to dominate the ball and get up to 70 per cent possession, constantly creating chances and making forward runs. We want to be high-energy with and without the ball.”

McNabb and his backroom team arrived at Gigg Lane last September, which meant their time on the training pitch was limited by the busy fixture list.

“It has been enormous,” Lees insisted. “We like to think one of our key strengths, where we can make big differences, is our detail of coaching and preparation.

“That was difficult last year for different reasons and factors which were out of our control.

“Having a pre-season where you can establish the culture and standards from the off, every manager will always say it is completely different.”

He continued: “Sometimes in pre-season when you are trying to build a certain style of play, you are actually over the moon to see mistakes.

“When you don’t quite get your distances right in your pressing and get punished, we can highlight it and learn from it.

“But when that happens in the season, when results are paramount, it becomes more difficult. We actually encourage the lads that we want to see those mistakes so we can put them right.”