BURY striker Shaun Harrad admitted his sense of relief at ending the longest barren spell of his career was muted by Tuesday night’s cup exit.

The 28-year-old frontman headed the Shakers level at the Abbey Stadium before non-league Cambridge United clinched the FA Cup replay with a late winner.

It was a bitter pill for the ex-Northampton Town forward to swallow after finding the net for first time in 15 matches and only the fourth time in three seasons at the club.

But he now hopes to lift the gloom by hitting the goal trail, starting with the visit of his former club, Northampton, at the JD Stadium on Saturday week.

“I’ll take heart from that goal and hopefully there’s more to come,” he said.

“Nobody has ever questioned my commitment, but my goals per game, I hold my hands up, that’s my job.

“I’ve got that monkey off my back now. To be honest, I think it was probably the longest spell in my career where I hadn’t scored.

“I think it was seven or eight starts without a goal. That’s out of the way so now I’ll look upwards.”

Harrad has endured a few false dawns at Bury since his arrival in August, 2011, going out on loan to Rotherham United and Cheltenham Town after failing to nail down a place in the starting line-up.

The Irish striker now finds himself behind Danny Hylton and Danny Nardiello, who was unavailable for the FA Cup tie and will probably replace him in the next match.

But, even if he has to extend his scoring run from the bench, Harrad believes he is ready to prove his worth.

And he reckons Bury, who are 20th in League Two, have more than enough quality to now rise up the table, if they can cut out the mistakes which again saw them concede from a late corner on Tuesday night.

“The lads are devastated,” he said. “

Tom Soares has held up his hand because another individual error (losing his marker) at a set-piece has cost us.

“But, on paper, we’ve got a very good squad and there’s nothing in League Two to be scared of.

“If we turn those chances into goals and stop conceding from set-pieces we’ll be fine.”