MOST teams struggling at the wrong end of the table can point to instances of bad luck that have dogged them.

But for Bury this catastrophic campaign just seems to go from bad to worse with Saturday's coach breakdown just the latest in a run of mishaps.

At Bournemouth two weeks ago the team were woken in the early hours of the morning by a fire alarm and went on to lose to a last minute goal. Their next game at home to Wycombe had to be postponed after the floodlights failed.

Then last week at Gigg Lane the club's lucky mascot Robbie the Bobby was ejected from the ground by stewards for allegedly "mooning" at Stoke fans.

Meanwhile, last Tuesday night a misunderstanding between manager Andy Preece and coach Andy Feeley resulted in the wrong player being substituted with star striker Jon Newby brought off instead of Harpal Singh.

Saturday's events kicked-off minutes after the team left Gigg at 9am in their regular coach. There were clutch problems shortly after they joined the M60 but they continued their journey when it was thought the problem had been solved.

It became apparent half way down the M6 near Wolverhampton that was not the case.

Stranded on the hard shoulder for 90 minutes the club became the focus of national media attention after a Stoke fan rang Radio Five to inform John Motson on his morning show.

A replacement vehicle came to the rescue from Midlands-based Hallmark transport and the team crammed in the considerably smaller bus to continue on their way.

Fortunately they avoided a fine when Shakers fan Brian Rigby noticed the stricken vehicle and picked up Andy Feeley and director John Smith who managed to hand in the teamsheet on time.

As the coach made it's way down the M40 and M4 to the Madejski Stadium boss Preece was interviewed on Mark Pougatch's Sport on Five programme and scores of travellers in cars hooted their horns and waved to the team after hearing of their plight.

"As we stood on the hard shoulder I just thought here we go again," laughed Preece after the game.

"Who knows, maybe we should book that bus again for our next away match at Cambridge!"