BURY FC enter the second semester of their Oxbridge examination tonight (Tuesday) with manager Andy Preece hoping they have learned some harsh lessons.

Preece was fuming after slack defence gifted Oxford United an opening day 2-1 victory over the Shakers.

But the busy fixture list means they can put their early season immediately back on track with victory over the side who followed them through the Division Two trapdoor last season.

"It was so frustrating after what happened to us last season. It was a carbon copy of some of those games," he said.

"We went on a nine-game losing sequence last-season and really could have won all of the games as well.

"There's no reason for us to lose confidence because the performance was good overall but I can't accept us losing games we dominate like that.

"Now this is a good opportunity for us to bounce back."

Despite his anger at Saturday's performance, Preece looks to have no choice but to pick the same starting 11, with David Borley, Ian Lawson, Gareth Seddon and Chris Billy all still injured.

But he is starting to calm down from the defeat and, looking at the grand scheme, he admits there is plenty to be positive about.

"This time last season we had just won away at Tranmere on the opening day and I am probably more confident about doing well this year than I was after that win 12 months ago," he said.

"We were away from home, in the first match of the season, and the way we passed the ball and played was good. We defended well apart from a silly five minutes.

"Nearly everything was right, apart from the two goals.

"Take that five minutes out of the game and it was a great performance because Oxford will be one of the better teams in the league. We've got to fancy ourselves this season after that performance."

Cambridge also got off to a poor start with a 2-1 home defeat to Darlington and have been in a similar boat to Bury for some time - their 13-match winless run matching the misery of Bury's awful autumn.

And Preece claims an early score will be crucial in boosting both teams' morale and kick starting their season.

"Getting an early goal against Cambridge could be crucial and, if we don't get one, we should still keep it tight and be patient," he said.

"We dominated play for the first half hour on Saturday but just didn't manage to create a clear-cut opportunity.

"Maybe sometimes we need to show more desire to get on the end of balls in the box.

"If we play like that all season we'll win more than we'll lose. It's a mental thing more than a physical one we need to be mentally tough."