BURY boss David Flitcroft admitted he had one eye on key league battles to come when he shuffled the pack for Tuesday's night's 2-1 defeat at Bradford in the Checkatrade Trophy.

Two first-half goals from Haris Vuckic and Jordy Hiwula gave the Bantams a comfortable half-time lead and the Shakers were unable to claw it back despite Tom Walker halving the deficit with his first goal for the club 22 minutes from time.

Bolton Wanderers loanee Walker was given his first start of the season, as were Andrew Tutte and Anthony Dudley, as Flitcroft rested key men with Saturday's televised clash at Peterborough in mind.

“It's a game I've come here and wanted to win but I've got a lot of minutes in lads that really needed it and that's important tonight,” Flitcroft said.

“It's been a brilliant game to give lads game time and also I wasn't going to risk Zeli Ismail here tonight, he's such a big influence on the team.

“We have already lost Leon (Barnett) and Nathan Cameron so I'm not going to risk my team leader in (centre-back Antony) Kay either. I wanted to utilise this game but with the team we put out I still felt we could win.”

Bradford took a similar approach and in a bid to avoid possible fines for the amount of players dropped, opted to substitute their goalkeeper inside the opening three minutes.

With both sides experimenting throughout the game with formations and player partnerships, Flitcroft says that showed organisers had got the competition format wrong this year.

“You can see how Bradford used the game by subbing their keeper three minutes into the game, it shows you what the competition has become and how people are using it,” he said.

“They have got the format spectacularly wrong but I think it was a pilot year and that's the way it's panning out.”

Bury enjoyed most of the ball in the first half but lacked the creativity needed to break through the Bradford defence.

The Bantams had a strong shout for a penalty waved away in the 24th minute when Hiwula went down in the area under a challenge from Niall Maher but the referee surprised everyone by waving away the appeals.

The opening goal arrived seven minutes later when Hiwula fed Vuckic in the box and the winger drilled a low shot past Ben Williams.

Four minutes later Bradford doubled their lead when Vuckic and Hiwula linked up again and it was the latter who tucked the ball under the Bury stopper.

The Shakers looked to force more openings at the beginning of the second half but the closest they got was when Hallam Hope and Jacob Mellis shot wide from distance.

Flitcroft introduced substitute Tom Pope on the hour in an attempt to bolster his side's attack, and they got back into the game in the 68th minute when Walker showed neat footwork in the area to skip past two challenges and beat the goalkeeper at his near post.

Young midfielder Scott Burgess was given his first run-out of the season when he replaced Tutte in the 75th minute, and 16-year-old Rob Harker was handed his senior debut one minute from time, but neither could fashion an equaliser.

The defeat moves Bury down to second in the Northern Group C table, with one match away to Stoke City's Under-23s to come.

Although disappointed with the loss, Flitcroft was happy with the performance of some of his players – especially Walker.

“The two first-half goals from them were poor in terms of the way we defended the centre of the pitch," he said. "It just opened up too much for us.

“Second half there was only one team that looked like scoring.

"I thought Hallam looked more aggressive and more threatening and Popey made a big difference when he came on.

“Walker can be a match winner. He has got that ability to turn a game and win a game.

"He has got that quality, I have just got to make sure I can give him more opportunities to show it.

“We tried to look at certain things tonight and some of it has been a success and some of it has not.”

Bury (4-4-1-1): Williams 6; Soares 6, Bryan 5, Maher 6, Leigh 6; Tutte 5 (Burgess 75, 6), Mellis 6, Etuhu 5, Walker 7; Hope 5 (Harker 89, 6); Dudley 5 (Pope 60, 6). Not used: Rachubka, Bedeau.

Bradford (4-4-1-1): Doyle (Sattelmaier 3); Darby (Windle 60), Clarke, McArdle, Kilgallon; Rabiega, Devine, Dieng (Boateng 60), Morais; Vuckic; Hiwula.

Referee: Ben Toner (Lancashire).