BURY boss Neil Warnock apologised to the fans after his side's 'nightmare coach trip'.

Saturday's journey to Rotherham was hit by an amazing sequence of events resulting in the Shakers kicking off 53 minutes late for a friendly clash.

A catalogue of mishaps resulted in players and officials arriving at Millmoor at around 3.40pm, 40 minutes after the scheduled start time.

"We must apologise to the fans but I'd never known anything like it, it was a real nightmare," said Warnock.

"The bus wouldn't start when we were due to set off from our Scarborough hotel at 12 o'clock then just when we'd ordered six or seven taxis someone arrived to sort it out.

"At ten past one we managed to get going but a door flew open at the side and we had to stop. Then minutes later the temperature guage went through the roof and we had to stop to take on gallons more water.

"Two miles further on another door opened on the side then we got stuck in a three mile tailback behind a tractor on the inside lane of the A1 on what must be one of the busiest Saturdays of the year - we did well to get arrive at the time we did!" he grinned.

The team had spent an enjoyable two night break at the Yorkshire resort after a late, late show earned them a 2-1 victory over 'Boro on Thursday evening.

But Warnock wasn't too worried at not disposing of Saturday's Third Division opponents after leaving out a handful of first choice performers for the game.

"Under the circumstances I don't take a lot from that match as it was a bit low tempo and probably just what we needed after the couple of days we'd had.

"But it was a good workout for the likes of Chris Swailes, Rob Matthews and Dean Barrick and we scored two good goals.

"It was good to see Tony Ellis get on the scoresheet, he's had a lean time in pre-season and Rob (Matthews) took his goal well," he added.

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