SHAKERS boss Andy Preece is so disillusioned by Bury's stay-away fans that he wants to take the next round of their Worthington Cup adventure away from Gigg Lane.

Only 2,500 spectators, including a strong away contingent, turned out to witness Tuesday night's shock win over First Division Stoke City.

Preece had hoped for a bumper gate to boost his hopes of keeping key loan players including Terry Dunfield and Pawel Abbott on longer contracts but was left furious with the miserable attendance.

Now he admits a high profile away tie in the second round draw, which includes every Premiership club bar those in European competitions, would actually reap a greater income for the cash-strapped club than another match on home turf.

"Some fans didn't come on Tuesday that will come to our next match on Saturday and I don't understand that. They really missed out on a great night," said Preece.

"I don't know what they want from us. People moan at us and say that if we give them goals, they will come back watching us. But they are clearly talking out of their backsides because we have been scoring loads lately. So where do we go from here?

"Now we are just desperate for a nice tie but it's going to have to be away from home to get some money out of it."

Whoever Shakers are paired with come 1pm on Saturday, Preece is determined not to let the players' focus slip from maintaining their impressive league form as their promotion charge starts to take shape.

Last Friday's win over York took their unbeaten run to five games - their longest sequence in more than 18 months - and Preece wants to make it a super six at Bournemouth this weekend.

"It's great to have a cup run because we never seem to get one here at Bury. We always seem to crash out at the first hurdle," he said.

"But our bread and butter is the league and we won't be getting carried away with the Stoke result. We would swap that for two league wins any day.

"We will enjoy watching the draw but then we have to get our minds set on Bournemouth."