Bury 1 Doncaster 3 by Chris Hall: NO matter how hard Bury try to paper over the cracks, the departure of Michael Nelson from Gigg Lane continues to cripple their play-off prospects.

After their poor start to the new campaign, Shakers' tenth fixture of the season had been earmarked by manager Andy Preece as a more realistic occasion to measure their credentials.

But, sitting in the unnerving depths of the Division Three table with one of the worst defensive records in the Football League, little has changed to give the beleagured boss hope of a repeat of last year's heroics.

While goalscoring is no longer a major problem, particularly now Harpal Singh appears to be showing signs of his elusive best, the centre back pairing of Greg Strong and Danny Swailes needs urgent attention.

Strong lasted only 63 minutes before being substituted to avoid further embarrassment, while Swailes still appears prone to lapses in concentration without his Geordie comrade alongside him.

"You are shaking your head in disbelief after the way we conceded the first goal in particular," said Preece.

"We got ourselves back into the game after that and things were pretty even for most of the first half. But the goals we are conceding have to be eliminated. We are leaving ourselves having to score four times to win a match and that's just not going to happen very often."

Strong effectively opened the scoring for Doncaster after 10 minutes when his poorly chosen back header allowed Leo Fortune West to pounce on the loose ball and lob the stranded Glyn Garner from the edge of the box.

Preece managed to haul his side back on to level terms with an emphatically struck penalty after Gareth Seddon had his ankles tapped on 26 minutes.

But Swailes was caught ball-watching nine minutes later as Greg Blundell pulled away from his marker to lash home a well-struck volley which he should never have been allowed to attempt.

With Singh pulling the strings, Bury were always a threat as Seddon, Preece, Lee Unsworth and Singh himself all exposed a far from impregnable Rovers defence.

But once Michael McIndoe beat a woeful offside trap to latch on to West's splendid through ball and blast home from 10 yards, seven minutes into the second period, the result was never in doubt.

Formguide: Garner 7, Unsworth 6, Woodthorpe 7, Swailes 5, Strong 4, Connell 6, Thornley 7, O'Shaughnessy 7, Singh 8, Preece 7, Seddon 7. Subs: Duxbury (for Strong, 63mins) 6, O'Neill (for Seddon, 63) 6, Porter (for Singh 63) 6. Not used: Whaley, Kennedy.

Referee: Mr A Hall. Attendance: 3,606.