ALAN Knill could recall a couple of his big guns as he attempts to get Bury’s struggling season back on track.

Five consecutive home defeats have hit the confidence of the Shakers, after a fantastic start to the season that saw them go undefeated until October.

Ryan Cresswell has been preferred to the experienced Ben Futcher in recent weeks, and top scorer Andy Bishop was named on the bench for Saturday’s clash with Grimsby due to tiredness. When Bishop was brought on, at half-time, Bury were already 2-0 down and chasing the game.

Now, Knill has admitted both Futcher and Bishop could return to the starting eleven as he attempts to stop the slide.

“Bish was tired,” said Knill. “He played at Bradford and didn’t look great because he had been up the night before and since then he has not been as sharp, whether that be in games or in training.

“Instead of leaving him, we thought it a good idea to rest him, and he could come back sharper, but unfortunately at 2-0 down we had to put him on the pitch.

“Ben suffered a toe injury in the reserves last week, but we hope he is back next week because he’s a man – and he’s good in the dressing room too.”

Bishop has scored eight goals for the Shakers this season, but his strike partners Andy Morrell, Glynn Hurst and Chris O’Grady have scored just three goals between them.

Knill has admitted that is a concern, but he believes it is only a matter of time before the tide is turned.

“The strikers just aren’t firing,” said Knill. “They are all good players, with decent records, but they just aren’t finding the back of the net.

“Against Grimsby we hit the bar and their keeper made a couple of saves and it is a fine line but we just have to be positive to change that around “We just have to keep working. Obviously we haven’t got loads of money to go and get players, so we have to work with the squad we have got.

“We have to keep faith with all the players and hopefully they will come good.

“We can’t make wholesale changes, because I don’t have a squad to do that.”