Bury 1 Colchester Utd 3 by Chris Hall

SHAKERS boss Andy Preece will have to wield the axe to keep cash-strapped Bury FC afloat after Colchester condemned them to Division Three football next season.

A rousing gung-ho effort and a second half strike from midfield ace Chris Billy were not enough to keep them from the trap door for another week as United substitute Adrian Coote twice exploited a stretched defence to land the killer blows.

Bury remain only three points from safety but only an 18-goal win over Peterborough and a string of other favourable results could now save them from the drop.

And a dejected Preece is already planning for the next campaign, claiming sacrifices will have to be made to compensate for the lesser revenue generated by life in the basement division.

"I told the players before the game that they weren't just playing for the team, they were playing for themselves," he said.

"If we had stayed in the second division, I would have had more money to pay them in wages next season. Now we have gone down, they will have to take a pay cut and one or two players will have to be released. So they knew what they were playing for."

The Bury boss remained defiant about his side's prospects of a swift return to Division Two.

He said: "I won't be hoping to get promoted next season, I will be expecting it.

"At the very least we should be in the play-offs next year because really there's no way we should have gone down this season. We had an awful start to the campaign but at one point we were five or six points clear of the relegation zone. We should have pulled away from there."

The visitors snatched the lead seconds before half-time through Scott McGleish and doubled it after 71 minutes when Lee Unsworth gifted possession to Coote who slotted home.

But, inspired by a magnificent battling display from skipper Martyn Forrest, Bury were a constant threat and surged forward with an attacking line that at one stage boasted no fewer than five front men in Jon Newby, Ian Lawson, George Clegg, David Nugent and Gareth Seddon.

They deservedly pulled a goal back when Clegg's strike through a crowded box was cleared off the line and Chris Billy headed home the rebound.

But their all-out attacking display was always going to leave them short at the back and Coote exploited the stretched defence to race into acres of space and seal Shakers' fate.

BURY FORMGUIDE: Paddy Kenny 7, Lee Connell 7, Lee Unsworth 6, Sam Collins 7, Matt Barrass 7, Chris Billy 8, Martyn Forrest 9, Phil Clarkson 7, George Clegg 8, Jon Newby 9, Ian Lawson 7. Substitutes: Gareth Seddon 7, David Nugent 8, Paul Reid, Andy Preece, Michael Nelson.