BURY'S Indian superstar Baichung Bhutia has been told he must "get better" to reclaim his first team place.

Bhutia maybe a superstar back in Asia where he is captain of the national team and more popular than Hollywood movie stars but that means nothing at Gigg Lane.

Speaking about why Bhutia wasn't even on the bench for Saturday's LDV Vans Trophy win over Mansfield, Shakers boss Andy Preece said: "Baichung is not doing enough at the moment to get in the team and he knows that.

"At the end of the day it comes down to performances and just lately Baichung hasn't been good enough."

The Indian appeared to be at last fulfilling his obvious promise earlier in the season when he got a regular run in the first team.

He scored a glorious goal when Bury beat Rotherham 2-1 in August but any hopes that the super strike would open the floodgates soon faded.

Although he has played well - even when he's been hampered by being forced to play a more defensive role - his form has dipped of late and Preece seems to have lost confidence.

Bhutia has only started three games since September and must now improve his performances for the reserves and perform consistently well if he is to force his way back in.

One striker, however, who Preece is more than happy with is new boy Andy Smith.

The youngster, on loan from First Division Sheffield United, has started two out of two games for the Shakers and though he's yet to score he has caught the eye of his manager.

"Andy worked himself into the ground against Mansfield," said Preece. "He didn't get many chances and he'll probably be disappointed but overall I was very pleased with him."

BURY Reserves cruised to a 5-0 win against Scarborough at Gigg Lane yesterday.

And the good news is that top scorer Ady Littlejohn climbed out of his sick bed to play. He scored a goal and is now a favourite to start against his old club Oldham in Saturday's derby.

Lutel James, Darren Bullock, Chris Billy and player boss Andy Preece got the other goals as an experienced Bury team, including skipper Nick Daws, outclassed their young opponents.