FORMER Shaker Jamie Hoyland has urged Bury fans to be patient with mis-firing forwards Hallam Hope and Danny Rose.

Hope, aged 20, extended his goalless streak to 12 matches after drawing another blank in Bury’s 1-0 defeat at Burton Albion last Saturday, while 21-year-old Rose stretched his barren spell to 11 games.

Both strikers signed for the Shakers this season following successful loan spells at the JD Stadium last campaign.

And Hoyland believes the fans' high expectations have made life even more difficult as they struggle to adapt to life as senior pros.

“You have to remember that both these boys are only just dipping their toes into first-team football,” said Hoyland, who scored 35 goals in 172 appearances over a four-year period for Bury after moving from Manchester City as a 20-year-old in 1986.

“It took me a season to adjust when I moved to Gigg Lane. I know that one or two directors wanted to get rid of me after my first season, they wondered what Martin Dobson had brought to the club.

“But the manager stuck by me and eventually I did all right.

“Both these boys have come to Bury on the back of successful loan spells, so the expectation is high that they will be able to pick up where they left off.

“That brings with it added pressure and it is something they will have to learn to get used to.

“But they have both shown in the past that they know where the goal is, so given time I am sure they will come good.”

Hope ended his loan spell at Bury last season with a hat-trick against Portsmouth to take his tally to five goals in eight games, but he is yet to find the net since moving from Everton in November.

Rose hit the ground running after signing permanently from Barnsley in August, scoring five goals in his first seven appearances, but has only managed three in 25 games since then.

A hamstring injury is expected to keep senior striker Ryan Lowe out until mid March, leaving Danny Nardiello to shoulder the goal-scoring burden until Hope and Rose hit form again.

Fans will be hoping they do that tomorrow, when seventh-placed Bury bid to cement their place in the League Two play-off places by returning to winning ways against fellow promotion-chasers Exeter, who are three points behind the Shakers in ninth.

Bury boss David Flitcroft is likely to keep faith with his two young strikers after failing to recruit the new target man he craves on transfer deadline day.

Youth-team keeper Jack Ruddy is expected to keep his place in the matchday squad as second-choice stopper Rob Lainton recovers from a hernia operation.

And former Wanderers right-back Joe Riley is also a fitness doubt after a recurrence of a hamstring injury during last Saturday's match.

But Flitcroft is confident his current squad is now well-equipped to battle it out for promotion and, after the closure of the transfer window, is now fully focussed on the challenge ahead.

"We have done a lot of rebuilding and reshaping," said the Bury boss.

“It is now a case of really drilling down and making sure we get the best out of the players we have got at the football club.”