SAM Allardyce apologised to Wanderers' fans today, accepting full responsibility for last night's Worthington Cup derby shaker writes Gordon Sharrock of the Bolton Evening News

"I pick the team and it's my fault," the manager said after seeing his side beaten 1-0 and outplayed by Third Division Bury at the Reebok.

"I will take the criticism which will come our way - and rightly so after the performance we put on.

"Our paying fans were bitterly let down by us. I can only apologise and say to them that it won't happen too often."

Allardyce was generous in his praise of Bury who clinched a place in the third round with the only goal three minutes into the second half which was credited as an own goal by Bernard Mendy but claimed by Shakers' defender Colin Woodthorpe.

"I have to congratulate Bury for a fantastic performance," he said. "They were outstanding, played above themselves, played some good football and from start to finish looked the better side - even before we got a man sent off.

"We have to take it on the chin and hope we come fighting back against Middlesbrough on Saturday."

Local pride suffered a major dent while many of Allardyce's wannabes - newcomers as well as those on the fringe of the first team - missed out on an opportunity to stake their claims for Premiership calls. And the manager was left pondering how shallow his squad really is.

Only young hopefuls Danny Livesey and Jeff Smith and the veterans Kevin Poole and David Holdsworth emerged with any credit from a game which Wanderers ended with 10 men after having Turkish midfielder Akin sent off for a second bookable offence. "The rest of them looked a little bit bewildered," Allardyce admitted

He said in advance that he would take the opportunity to rest his regular first teamers but believed he could still pick a side capable of winning. But he realised he was asking too much, hoping players whose fitness levels are clearly not up to scratch and who had not played together, could compete against a team that needed no motivating to rise to the big occasion.

"It's difficult to try and defend them when you make so many changes and ask them to function as a unit," he explained. "You put a team together and have a day or a day and a half to work with them. That's an exceptionally difficult task but we had the quality of player in the side that should have been enough to get us through but it wasn't.

"My only excuse is their lack of match practice - that stood out more than anything."

Jubilant Shakers boss Andy Preece, who is fighting a desperate battle to maintain morale during the club's financial crisis, said: "It's fantastic! People will be talking about the team on the pitch, which is what I have been trying to get happening for ages.

"It's great for me as a manager to give our suffering fans something to cheer.

"If they are not going to come back after this, they are never, ever going to come back."

He added: "There were 3,500 of our fans at the game and it's fantastic for them, it's their big game. Bury fans love to play against Bolton and they will be partying for ever with this result."