CRACKING start in the Isle of Man, now for a top six finish in the league.

That's the confident battlecry from Shakers boss Andy Preece, delighted at his team's form on the eve of the new season.

And though the Shakers didn't quite manage to bring home the trophy from the Isle of Man, the gaffer was ecstatic after an unbeaten three-match run, including convincing wins against Darlington and a strong Stoke team favourites for promotion to Division One.

Preece sees no reason why Bury should not go up.

"I am really pleased with the way we are playing and our level of fitness," said the boss. "The key now is to be consistent and play well over 46 games, which is something we didn't do last year.

"I'm aiming for promotion. There's no point going out there thinking that we will finish half way. At the very least we should be aiming for the play-off's and with the quality that we have at the club we should finish in the top six."

Preece is preparing his troops for another friendly today at Evesham, when Darren Bullock and Lutel James - both left behind while the rest of the squad travelled to the Isle of Man - will continue their comebacks from injury.

James played an hour and Bullock the full 90 minutes during a 3-1 friendly win at Droylsden on Saturday and Preece says both players suffered no reactions.

In fact, a slight knock to youngster Steve Halford aside, the entire squad is fit and raring to go.

"We're all okay and in good shape," confirmed Preece. "The only injuries from last week's tour were a few blisters because the pitches were so hard."

And as for the performances in the tournament, give or take a couple of penalties and it couldn't have gone better.

A 3-1 stroll over Darlington was followed by a 2-1 win against Stoke and only Oldham could stop the Shakers bandwagon, holding out for a 0-0 draw.

The Latics snatched the trophy, courtesy of two penalty misses from Nick Daws and Dean Barrick.

"Apart from the first 45 minutes against Oldham we were very good. We could have beaten Darlington by seven or eight and we should have seen off Oldham in the second half of the final but their keeper got in the way of a couple and we just couldn't get the ball in the net," added Preece.

"It was a good workout. We got three highly competitive games against three good teams, which is what we needed."

The tournament also confirmed Dean Crowe is back to full fitness. The livewire striker scored against Darlington and will start the season at Gigg on a three-month loan contract.

Jason Jarrett impressed and the homegrown midfielder has been rewarded with a six month contract.

Preece is also continuing negotiations with versatile defender Lee Unsworth, released by Crewe during the summer.