BURY manager David Flitcroft admitted his decision to announce the club's retained list early could have led to Saturday's below-par display at Chesterfield.

While Friday's shock announcement revealed winger Craig Jones had been given an extra year and negotiations were under way to keep out-of-contract Ryan Lowe and Danny Pugh at the club, there was bad news for other players in the squad.

Out of the six told they would be released at the end of the season, only Reece Brown featured in the matchday squad, and he put in a man-of-the-match display after coming on at half time.

But with Flitcroft hinting other first-teamers contracted for next season have been told they could be sold on to balance the budget, he was adamant the timing of the announcement had unsettled his squad.

Jay O'Shea converted from the penalty spot to give the hosts the lead in the first half, and Lee Novak doubled their advantage on the stroke of half time.

Former Shakers loanee Dan Gardner then added a third midway through the second period to put the result beyond doubt, although Bury never looked like scoring after failing to create any clearcut chances.

And Flitcroft was left to rue his decision to make the retained list public with two games of the season still remaining.

“It was a difficult afternoon,” Flitcroft said. “I'm not too sure psychologically where the lads were at.

“Possibly telling the squad might have been a poor decision. I wanted to try to build on this season by getting the ins and outs sorted a bit sooner.

“But I'm not too sure if that's had a negative impact on the dressing room or certainly on the squad, so that's something that I'm going to have to look at and chat to the players about before next week's game.”

Chesterfield's win guaranteed their League One survival, which Flitcroft believed was also a motivating factor behind their dominant display.

He added: “We got punished by a really rampant Chesterfield team that were excellent.

“Chesterfield played with a real passing verve. They looked like they wanted to show their fans that they wanted to stay in this league.

“(Chesterfield goalkeeper )Tommy Lee said it was the biggest game of their careers and they certainly played like that.

“When you analyse the three goals the first one, it's a lack of focus, it was a bad decision to challenge the kid.

“The second one we were not tight enough on the striker and the third we had two chances to stop the counter attack, one on the edge of the box and one on the half-way line and we didn't.”

Fit-again Jacob Mellis, returning to the starting line-up after almost two months out injured, had the first shot on target for the Shakers as he gave Lee an early test from distance – but that was as good as it got for Bury.

O'Shea was the architect for most of the Spireites' attacks and he sent a 30-yard free kick narrowly past the post midway through the opening period.

Bury's on-loan centre-back Cian Bolger gave Chesterfield a helping hand to open the scoring in the 28th minute, barging Garry Liddle in the back in the box to give the referee no choice but to point to the spot.

O'Shea smashed the penalty into the bottom corner despite Chris Neal diving the right way.

Neal did get the better of O'Shea in the 41st minute when he made a smart save to deny the midfielder a second goal, and Ollie Banks crashed the rebound against the post.

Novak doubled Chesterfield's lead on the stroke of half time with a deflected strike from the edge of the area that crept inside Neal's near post.

Flitcroft made all three of his allotted changes at the break, introducing Brown, John O'Sullivan and Danny Rose in place of Jones, Mellis and Tom Pope.

But the changes failed to inspire a comeback as Bury fell further behind in the 71st minute when former Shaker Gardner, who was recalled from his loan spell at Gigg Lane the previous week, came off the bench to score a third for Chesterfield.

Gboly Ariyibi drilled a low shot wide and Gardner was denied by the legs of Neal from close range as the hosts threatened to run riot.

The three goals conceded means that Bury have shipped 44 away from home this season – with only relegated Colchester United leaking more on their travels.

After losing their first away match of the league campaign at Bradford in October, Bury went on to lose 12 of their next 16 games on the road, something Flitcroft is intent on correcting next season.

“It has been tough for our fans away from home,” Flitcroft said. “The travelling fans have been outstanding and we haven't given them enough when I look over the season as a whole.

“Even though it started quite well, we have not been able to pull enough results in on our travels.

“That's something we have got to put right for next season and something we will be working on until we start back in pre-season.

“It's conceding goals. Conceding goals is something that has hampered us all season, there has been too many.”

******

Match ratings

BURY (4-4-2): Neal 4; Jones 3 (Brown 45, 6), P Clarke 5, Bolger 4, Pugh 4; Soares 5, Etuhu 5, Mellis 4 (O'Sullivan 45, 6), Mayor 5; Lowe 5, Pope 4 (Rose 45, 5). Not used: Lawlor, Sedgwick, Clare.

Chesterfield (4-1-4-1): Lee; Talbot, Anderson, Hird, Donohue; Liddle, Campbell-Ryce (Gardner 69), Banks, O'Shea; Ariyibi (Dimaio 90), Novak. Not used: Evatt, Slew, Ebanks-Blake, Simons, Chapman.

Goals: Chesterfield – O'Shea 29, Novak 45, Gardner 72.

Yellow cards: Bury – Jones 25, Bolger 27, Pugh 32, Mayor 49, Lowe 55.

Referee: Chris Sarginson (Staffordshire).

Attendance: 7,232 (413 visiting).

STAR MAN: Reece Brown – The best of a bad bunch. Brown was handed set-piece duty when introduced at half time in the absence of Chris Hussey and his deliveries caused the occasional problem in the Chesterfield box. Brought on in central-midfield, the 24-year-old added a bit of physical presence and fight, which was lacking in the first half.