SHAKERS skipper Martyn Forrest says players will be playing to stay in a job when they take on Peterborough in their 'meaningless' last game in Division Two writes Chris Hall

Bury travel to the London Road ground seemingly with nothing to play for after last week's 3-1 home defeat to Colchester condemned them to life in the Football League's basement division.

But, with administrators struggling to find a buyer for the Gigg Lane club, the purse strings will be tightened even further for next season and manager Andy Preece has already hinted that some players will have to be shown the door.

Sam Collins and Paul Reid are known to be on their way in the summer and Forrest said the rest of the squad would all be on their toes to prevent a premature end to their Shakers careers.

"It has been a rough time for us but we can't just blame last week's result. We haven't done enough over the season," he said.

"We just have to go out this week and give our best. Some players are out of contract and will want to stake their claim for next season. I'm not sure what team the boss will put out but we just have to give 100 per cent.

"A lot of our younger players have been thrown in this season and had to learn a lot quicker than we had hoped. It was a lot to expect of them but it had to be done and, at the end of the day, they haven't learned quickly enough and we are going down."

One of the few plus points to come from the defeat to Colchester was the successful return of joint top scorer Gareth Seddon, who shrugged off a long standing back problem to put in an exciting substitute's performance.

Manager Andy Preece said he was pleased to have his striker back in the fold and to have no fresh injury worries.

"Everyone is fine. Gareth Seddon's not had any reaction to his back problem after playing last week," he said.

"I thought he looked very lively when he came on and I think we have missed him. He's one of those players who can turn a game."

SHAKERS' reserves earned promotion to the Avon Insurance League Premier Division this week without even kicking a ball.

Nearest challengers Stoke City needed to beat York to stay in contention but went down 2-1 to seal Bury's triumph.