LUTEL JAMES looks to have earned a starting spot for tomorrow's trip to Oxford after his matchwinning return against Tamworth.

James spared Bury's blushes against the non-leaguers with his extra-time winner in his first appearance since breaking a bone in the lower part of his leg two months ago in the 2-0 defeat at Oldham.

Also set to start the game at the Manor Ground is defender Andy Woodward, who came on with James on Tuesday after recovering from a back problem.

There will also be a place in the squad for youngster Danny Swailes, who has impressed recently in the reserves and in the first team at Bristol Rovers ten days ago.

Manager Neil Warnock could also return to the front line partnership of Ian Lawson and Andy Preece after leaving both on the bench for recent games.

Warnock has pledged to attack at Oxford, but is not expected to go as far as starting with the four who finished up front against Tamworth - James, Lawson, Baichung Bhutia and Adrian Littlejohn.

Two of those players may have to be content with a place on the bench as Bury seek that elusive first away win of the season after a string of impressive draws on their travels.

Certainly, they will want to rid themselves of the cloud that hung over them for so long against Tamworth and Warnock said: "We have got rid of the fear that affected us that night and we must be more positive now.

"Lutel gives us an extra dimension and looked to be continuing where he left off before his injury when he came on on Tuesday night.

Bury's possible line-up: Kenny; Woodward, C Swailes, Redmond or Williams; James, Daws, Billy, Bullock, Reid or Littlejohn; Lawson Preece. Subs (from): Bhutia, Barnes, Barrick, D Swailes, Avdiu.

Oxford have not lost in the three games since Mickey Lewis took over the reins from Malcolm Shotton and turned in their best performance of the season with a 2-1 win in the local derby at Reading last Sunday. Lewis is in the running to get the manager's job permanently, but has some strong opposition in two more former Oxford players, Mark Wright and Ray Houghton, who recently resigned as player/manager of Stevenage.

Former Blackburn and QPR boss Ray Harford is also in among the favourites.

Oxford will welcome back former Birmingham City midfielder Paul Tait after suspension and former England Under-21 full back Paul Powell and centre back Steve Davis, who had spells at Burnley and Barnsley, are also available again.

Top scorer and one to watch is striker Matt Murphy who, like Lawson, has hit nine goals so far this season.

Meanwhile, Bury head for Oxford tomorrow knowing they have a crowd problem...they can't get one.

It's no laughing matter though as Tuesday's gate of 2,531 was the second lowest of the season at Gigg Lane so far and lower than the attendance for the first match against Tamworth. They attracted a crowd of 2,743 to the Lamb Ground for the FA Cup first round tie.

Bury's average gate so far is 3,377 from the 10 games played so far.

And that is likely to leave them bottom of the Division Two attendance table this weekend.

It's a problem chairman Terry Robinson is only too aware of and he says: "The gate against Tamworth was less than Rochdale had the same night. We've tried dropping prices, but on each occasion it has cost us between £4-6,000 to get no more than 300 extra people in on each occasion.

"We need more supporters on a regular basis, but you can't force people to come.

"The transition from First to Second Division has been far more difficult than we thought, but I don't want to end up giving players away. I would much rather keep them."

Looking back to Tuesday night, Warnock painted a dramatic picture of just how close the Shakers came to a humiliating FA Cup exit against Tamworth.

A Chris Billy goal four minutes from the end of normal time and a Lutel James strike six minutes into extra time rescued them against non-league Tamworth.

Warnock declared: "You could smell the fear in our dressing room at half-time. "It took a lot of spunk to come back the way we were playing. It took a lot of guts. I was proud of them. They battled. Ninety nine per cent of teams would have given in in our situation tonight.

"It was the hardest game we have had so far - and probably the hardest we will have for the rest of the season.

"With 86 minutes gone and 1-0 down you are bound to think you are going out. The fans were frustrated and giving us stick and quite rightly so. But we never threw the towel in.

"We gave them a goal start and had to chase the game. Our lads must have done two and a half hours running. We managed to claw it back and I can only give them credit for that.

"I wasn't surprised by Tamworth's performance. Adrenalin counts for a lot on these occasions. I remember a top professional saying that there were a lot of players better than him playing Sunday League football.

"Our goalie Pat Kenny made some great saves again, but we are in the next round and I would rather have that than play brilliantly like Tamworth did and lose out.

"We will probably go on to beat Cardiff and draw Tottenham in the third round now!

"It was nice to see Baichung Bhutia having a hand in both goals. Lutel too. Before he picked up his injury I thought he had been playing magnificently."

Striker Warren Haughton scored Tamworth's 15th minute goal and generally proved a handful for the shaky Bury defence.

He was taken off eight minutes from the end of normal time and his manager Paul Hendrie explained: "Warren had a little bit of a strain. He was shattered. He ran the Bury defence ragged, did his job - if only we could have had doing that in extra time.

"He was at Leicester and broke the record for youth team goals there. I don't know what went wrong, but we picked him up from Sutton reserves. Our staff have done a great job on him and he has turned into a great little footballer

"He is about 24. I have had enquiries for him, but all I have told him is that a couple of clubs two divisions lower than us have been sniffing!

Bury now entertain Second Division rivals Cardiff City, who beat lowly Third Division East Enders Leyton Orient 3-1 last night, in the FA Cup second round at Gigg Lane on Saturday November 20.

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