Absent friends are sorely missed

Because if they had needed a goal during Saturday's clash at Gigg Lane they'd have been bitterly disappointed. Just like the home fans who turned up for this game.

It was also 19 games BD (Before Dunfield) since Bury had put in as poor a performance as this on their own midden, and you can't rule out a connection.

Without the influential little Canadian midfielder, who is back at Manchester City after dislocating his shoulder against Fulham, there was little in the way of inspiration or creativity and Torquay's newly-signed keeper Arjan Van Heusen must have been well chuffed to get such an easy afternoon for his debut.

Lacklustre

The Shakers never looked like adding to that impressive sequence in a totally lacklustre display that will be a cause for concern to manager Andy Preece.

There were certainly few complaints about the result from the Bury boss as his side dropped three vital promotion points to play-off rivals.

The all-important goal arrived in the 56th minute through the highly-rated former Scottish Under-18 international David Graham.

The young striker beat Lee Unsworth for pace before drilling a low, left-foot shot that beat Glyn Garner in the Shakers' goal and found the net off the post.

It was all the more galling for the Gigg Lane men as leading scorer Jon Newby squandered Bury's best chance of the day seconds earlier, failing to get his shot off in a one-on-one with Van Heusden.

Newby's hesitancy summed up the day for the Shakers, who never got out of first gear.

Despite being up at 6.30am and making the long trip from Devon on the day, the visitors looked far brighter and inventive, a fact that wasn't lost on Preece.

"Torquay fully deserved to win the game," he declared.

"They were the better side and always looked more dangerous than we did.

"It was a really disappointing performance from us. All the team were 20 per cent below what we have shown recently and we seem to be saving our worst performances for our home fans."

The impressive Graham looked a real class act all afternoon and he almost doubled his and the Gulls' account after 72 minutes when he turned superbly to hit a powerful effort that just drifted wide of the post.

The visitors also had a good shout for a penalty just after the hour mark when a challenge by Danny Swailes sent Tony Bedeau sprawling in the box.

Few in the ground would have argued with a spot kick, but referee Alan Butler saw it the other way and booked the luckless Gulls' striker for 'diving'.

After the game Bedau was spotted going into the referee's dressing room for a chat with the official who, in fairness, should have another look at the incident on video before sending in his report.

Bury's best efforts came from a stinging Newby strike just before the break that flew high and wide, while Preece made Van Heusden turn a free-kick over the bar just after the interval.

But, those chances apart, there wasn't much for the Shakers faithful to get too excited about.

They threw on promising youngsters Dave Nugent and Simon Whaley in an attempt to liven things up later in the game, but although both looked lively, neither got the chance to make any great impact.

And for all the collective huffing and puffing around the Torquay box, there was little in the way of clear-cut openings created.

"Time will tell how much we miss Terry (Dunfield)," added Preece.

"Our previous really bad performance was against Cambridge before he arrived. We just hope that's a coincidence."

The Bury boss admitted he will be looking at utilising the loan system again after also having striker Pawel Abbott recalled to Preston by North End boss Craig Brown.

The biggest excitement of the afternoon arrived an hour before the kick-off when the Gigg Lane stadium had to be totally evacuated when a suspect package was found at the back of a stand.

It was eventually identified as a flask of chicken soup. . . it was one of those days!