"Harris is a quality player and he punished us in the end" bemoaned Preece in the Bolton Evening News today. "If you have someone like that who can create a goal out of nothing you always have a chance" he added. Yet Preece, who himself played 45 minutes of the game as the Shakers tried in vain to score a goal and bring themselves back into contention, refused to accept that the game was as one-sided as the scoreline suggests.

He remained upbeat, saying that "I can still take a lot of encouragement from that performance." Preece blamed the defeat on the Shakers' lack of concentration, and made it clear that Millwall wouldn't be the only side willing to take points off Bury away from home if they leave themselves in as vulnerable a position as they did on Saturday. "We've got to learn that the better sides will punish us if we don't keep focused" he said.

However the manager remains upbeat in much the same way as he reacted to the shock defeat at Oxford United a month ago when he demanded more from his players, and is looking forward to Tuesday evening's game with Notts. County, which he sees as arriving at a good time for Bury. "I'm delighted there's a game coming up straight away because it gives us the chance to bounce back" he told the Manchester Evening News.

Meanwhile, Preece's opposite number, Millwall manager Mark McGhee, was pleased with the way his side handled the Shakers, telling teamtalk.com that "our intelligence told us we were going to have to pass the ball around them, they are a very physical team and we didn't want to get involved in that." "It was never a 4-0 game" concluded Preece, however.

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