League Two Preview: Bury hoping for City boost

The Gigg Lane outfit announced a five-year deal to lease the Carrington facility earlier this week and are set to move into the former home of the Premier League champions on Sunday.

City have won the top flight twice in the last three seasons and Bury boss David Flitcroft will want to see the winning environment rub off on his players.

Having made a promising start to the season, Bury's title tilt was hurt by a poor run of form in the last two months of 2014.

However, promotion remains a very real possibility, with Bury two points clear of Newport County in the play-off positions, and the Carrington announcement will come as a welcome boost ahead of this weekend's trip to sixth-placed Plymouth.

"The facility at Carrington is out of this world and it was an opportunity that we simply could not turn down," said Bury chairman Stewart Day.

"We are thrilled to have reached this agreement particularly given the keen interest in a number of parties in leasing the site.

"Being able to have a Premier League-standard training facility as our base is a signal of our very real intent to provide our staff and players of all ages with the optimum facilities to support their development and training."

This weekend presents an ideal opportunity for Bury to put daylight between themselves and Newport, with the Welsh club travelling to leaders Burton Albion on Saturday.

Burton will be smarting from their 1-0 defeat to Accrington Stanley in midweek.

Second-placed Shrewsbury Town will be out to bounce back from their 2-1 defeat at Tranmere Rovers as they host Northampton Town, while Wycombe Wanderers - currently third - could leapfrog the Shropshire outfit with a home win against Stevenage.

Basement club Hartlepool United are eight points adrift of safety and host AFC Wimbledon this weekend, with second bottom Cheltenham Town hosting Tranmere.

York City - a point clear of the relegation zone - welcome Exeter City to Bootham Crescent, Carlisle United head to Southend United, and Mansfield Town tackle Dagenham and Redbridge.

Luton Town, meanwhile, are four points short of the automatic promotion places and host Accrington this weekend, Oxford United head to Portsmouth, and Morecambe welcome Cambridge United.

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