Bury...1 Southend Utd...3: THERE was always a worry that Bury would suffer a hangover from Wednesday night's Worthington Cup heroics at the Reebok -- it took just over an hour to kick in writes Phil Thorp

After going 1-0 up inside the first three minutes it looked like being another good day at the office for Andy Preece's men against limited opponents who looked incapable of creating a single chance.

But the big concern down at Gigg Lane at present is that teams don't need to carve our openings against the Shakers....stick around long enough and you'll be gifted goals.

On Saturday Southend found Bury to be benevolent in the extreme.

Three examples of kamikaze defending sent the Shrimpers home to Essex happy and, if they are honest, perplexed as how they managed to comfortably win the game they really shouldn't have had a hope in.

The Shakers can't buy a clean sheet in the league, and this was one match in which they really needed one, as a crucial second goal failed to materialise.

Strangely enough it's been two shutouts in the first couple of rounds of the Worthington Cup that have earned them a trip to Premiership side Fulham in the third round, but Preece knows that his men are going to have to tighten up in the bread and butter matches if they are to challenge for a quick return to Division Two.

"It sounds a crazy thing to say but I would have swapped three points against Southend for the Bolton result," said the Bury boss.

"We are going to have to stop conceding goals in the way we are or we will be yo-yoing up and down the division all season.

"In the first half some of the play was great, we passed well and dominated the game but we were always going to needed another goal to kill the game off".

The all-important second never arrived, but Preece's men had numerous opportunities to seal a game that was there for the taking.

The best fell to Michael Nelson after 22 minutes. From a free kick on the edge of the box, the big defender was expertly picked out by Terry Dunfield but his free header sailed high over the bar.

In the third minute that combination worked a treat as Nelson volleyed home a Dunfield corner kick at the near post to give the Shakers a flying start.

On the half hour mark Nelson fed John Newby through on goal, but Southend keeper Darryl Flahavan jut did enough to foil the Shakers leading scorer adding to his seven goals for the campaign.

The game became increasingly scrappy and it soon became clear that Bury were going to have to grind out a result, as the no-nonsense visitors stuck to their not-so-pretty game plan.

After Danny Swailes bowe out of the action with a broken nose at the interval, the Shakers were fortunate no to lose Nelson after he was clearly elbowed in the head by the abrasive Graeme Jones early in the second half.

Nottingham referee Phil Joslin decided a yellow card was enough punishment for the misdemeanour when some officials would have branished a red.

The decision backfired on the Shakers when the former Wigan Athletic striker levelled for the visitors after 66 minutes.

There seemed little danger when another hopeful punt upfield from Stephen Broad looked to be destined for Glyn Gamer in the Bury goal.

But a calamitous misunderstanding between Matt Barrass and his goalkeeper let in Jones, and the big striker was able to head into an empty net.

If the visitors' noisy following couldn't believe their luck that they were on level terms, they must have been ecstatic eleven minutes from time when more Fred Kamo defending allowed Neil Jenkins to sidefoot home from a close range.

Four minutes later and a sizable number of home fans were heading for the exits as Tes Bramble, brother of Newcastle United central defender Titus, outjumped Gamer to another high ball to give the scoreline an even more bizarre look

The Shakers will look back on squandered opportunities by Chris Billy, Newby and Dunfield early in the second halff, and a blatant handball by Southend defender Phil Whelan that Mr Joslin either didn't see or deemed accidental.

But the fact of the matter is the strikers can't be expected to score three, four and five goals every game, and as long as the defence continue to ship goals in this fashion they'll soon be cut adrift from the division's promotion hopefuls.

"I'm not going to pick on individuals it's a team thing, and we have to find something in ourselves as a group." added Preece.

"We have been working hard in training on tightening up at the back which makes it all the more frustrating, but we don't want to lose anything from our attacking game which has been our strength this season.

"Unless we sort it out we won't be able to stay in the top half of the league, we are making life to easy for teams."