NORTHWICH skipper John Robertson's rallying call to Vics fans will cut no ice with Andy Preece's Shakers.

The former Wigan Athletic and Lincoln City central defender has urged the Nationwide Conference club's supporters to make the Drill Field a hostile environment for the Gigg Lane men when they meet up in their FA Cup first round replay tonight.

But Preece expects nothing more from the non-leaguers and reckons if his side stamp their authority on the tie their quality will see them through.

"It's going to be a difficult game and if we want to get through we'll have to roll our sleeves up and show Northwich we mean business," he explained.

"The crowd will be noisy and there will be people at the game who don't normally support Northwich but our players have playing in bigger games with more intimidating atmospheres so it shouldn't be a problem.

"That said, you only have to remember what happened to Stoke City at Nuneaton last week but if we commit ourselves their's no reason why we can't go through."

Stoke drew 0-0 with the Boro at the Britannia Stadium a week last Saturday only to go down 1-0 to a goal in stoppage time in the replay at Manor Park a few days later.

That's an occurance that Preece will be keen to avoid given the Shakers current parlous financial position and the prospect of a winnable second round tie against Leyton Orient at Gigg on December 9.

"We're ready for a good battle and I think it'll be a very entertaining game," he added.

"I don't expect the surface will be the best but there should be a superb atmosphere and it'll be a great game to win.

"We won't be waiting to see what they have to offer - we saw that last weekend - but we have a lot more to give than we showed in that game, we know we can play better than that.

"We need to put them on the back foot from the start, impose ourselves on the game and quieten the crowd. We have to earn the right to play and it's all about how we start the game."

Definitely out of the Bury line-up are striker Lutel James and assistant boss Steve Redmond due to suspensions.

Matt Barrass, Steve Halford and Lee Connell are also out of contention but on the plus side Preece could throw Darren Bullock back into the fray after an enforced lay off.

The combative midfielder limped off after the first few minutes at Swansea City on the last day of September and hasn't featured in the first team since.

"Bully is short of match practice but is bang in contention again," said Preece. "He definitely makes a difference to us and his goals are invaluable.

"Midfielders who can score are worth their weight in gold and we have missed him.

"He's good to have around and you definitely need characters like him on the pitch - he really gets people going."

Saturday's disappointing postponement due to a waterlogged pitch was a sickener for Preece and his men but he admitted it has worked in their favour.

"We fancied ourselves to get three points against Brentford on Saturday, it would have set us up well for the cup match," he said.

"But at least it gave us the chance to train on the pitch yesterday and do some work we haven't been able to do.

"It's the first time we've been able to get on it for four weeks and it's a big bonus for us."

Vics boss Keith Alexander is expected to rely on the same eleven that did so well at Gigg Lane eleven days ago.

Like the Shakers they haven't played since that game and Saturday's Conference game at giant killers Nuneaton was postponed due to the weather.

Kick-off at the Drill Field tonight is 7.45pm.