WANDERERS 0, BURY 1: IT is tempting to say they could not have cared less; who gives tuppence anyway for the Worthington Cup? writes Gordon Sharrock of the Bolton Evening News

Small potatoes, nothing but a hindrance, a distraction from the serious business of Premiership football!

Cruelly, it might even be suggested that this was a hollow victory for the Shakers because Wanderers fielded a second class side.

It was nothing of the sort and while there may be no gnashing of the teeth or wringing of the hands at the Reebok today, let no one take anything away from Andy Preece and his players for a victory well-earned and well-deserved and let no one suggest that Sam Allardyce has taken the defeat lightly.

Because the only consolation for the Wanderers' boss, as he braces himself for the tirade of criticism that is inevitable after getting his comeuppance for fielding a weakened team, is the knowledge that he will not be hearing any knocks on his office door from players wanting to know why they are not in his first team.

They would not dare.

No beating about the bush, Allardyce made his feelings crystal clear about the League's knockout competition; he would love to win it ... but not at the expense of Premiership survival. No way would he gamble with the fitness of the players he felt needed a break between last weekend's draw with Southampton and Saturday's trip to Middlesbrough.

But he believed he could make full use of his squad and still select a team "more than capable" of beating Bury. More importantly, perhaps, he believed this was an opportunity to test the true depth of a squad he must run with at least until the transfer window opens again on January 1.

And he did not need the boos and taunts of the fans to tell him he was wrong on the first count and badly let down on the second.

Yet the crux of the matter was not the fact that Allardyce changed his team but that many of the players he brought in were not up to the pace and fitness levels demanded in a derby.

Wanderers hardly had a worthwhile on-target goal attempt; they were outplayed for long periods, looked disjointed and ill-disciplined in the tactical sense and were fortunate not to lose by a bigger margin.

For Bury fans, victory at the Reebok was equivalent to Wanderers' supporters seeing their team win at Old Trafford.

Big Sam must now be seriously concerned about the lack of cover he has for his first choice side.

He had hoped his three debutants - Akin, Chris Armstrong and David Holdsworth - would give him food for thought. He took another look at Stig Tofting and Bernard Mendy to see how they are progressing after their injuries and he changed his system to give Ivan Campo a chance to show his class in the sweeper position.

What he got was a typically honest, intelligent performance from Holdsworth, some smart saves from Kevin Poole and encouraging contributions from youngsters Danny Livesey and Jeff Smith.

"The rest showed just how far they are away from being in contention," Allardyce said bluntly. "I wanted them to show me where they are in their levels of match practice and fitness. But far too many of them are way, way down on that.

"It tells you a lot about where we are as a team and a squad and it tells the players who haven't been involved in the first team but think they should be that they can't come knocking on my door. And it tells them how hard they have to work to get to the levels needed to get into a Premiership team."

Wanderers had the added handicap of being a man down from the 64th minute when Akin was sent off for a second bookable offence - an innocuous looking foul on Pawel Abbott after being cautioned for kicking the ball away in the first half.

Bury started strongly with the lively John Newby a major threat while Poole had to make two smart early saves to deny Terry Dunfield, the young Manchester City midfielder into his second loan month at Gigg.

Busy in midfield, the Shakers did what no Premiership side has done this season - prevented Wanderers scoring - but in truth they did not have to be that good. Their back three of Matthew Barrass, grandson of Malcolm Barrass who played for Wanderers in the 1953 FA Cup Final, Michael Nelson and Danny Swailes, the self-confessed Bolton fan, rarely looked in trouble.

The second half introduction of Henrik Pedersen, Dean Holdsworth and Kevin Nolan put some urgency into Wanderers' football.

But with Campo looking dangerously cavalier and Mendy being far too adventurous, Bury were always a threat on the break.

Yet it was on one of the rare occasions when Mendy was the last line of defence, trying to prevent Colin Woodthorpe reaching Newby's excellent cross, that the young Frenchman ended up helping the ball over the line for the goal that handed the cash-starved Shakers a potentially lucrative third round tie and, equally important, a good helping of derby delight.