DIEHARD Shakers fan Santosh Rudravajhala's hopes of literally drumming up support during Bury's fourth round FA Cup tie at Southampton have taken a real pounding.

For the 22-year-old has been forced to beat a retreat after St Mary's officials ruled that no musical instruments would be allowed into their ground for Saturday's match.

The decision has come as a blow to Santosh who owns one of the two large drums familiar to the Gigg Lane faithful during home and some away games.

Despite taking the drum to the previous FA Cup tie at Norwich, Santosh has been told that it won't be allowed in at Southampton. The Saints ban has also infuriated other Bury fans, more than 460 of whom have signed an on line petition demanding that St Mary's officials overturn the decision.

Santosh, a second year psychology student, said: "I got the drum in the late summer in London from ebay for a miserly £14 with the intention of bringing together our full-of-voice away support in a constructive manner.

"Norwich City were the first club to let the drum in. If you ask any supporters who were there that day, they will tell you it made all the difference. The day went perfectly and there were no complaints from the other side."

Later, at the FA Cup replay at Gigg Lane when Bury beat Norwich, Santosh's drum rallied the supporters. "The drum went down a storm," he added, "and the noise was great"

Santosh says the Southampton ruling is hard to take. He claims that recently, the club let the entire Sheffield Wednesday band into their ground. But officials have refuted that. In a statement, Saints told the Bury Times that they haven't allowed drums into the stadium since they moved to St Mary's in 2001. A spokesman went on: "We decided to re-assess this position for the Blackpool match in which we allowed drums to be used to create further atmosphere.

"This caused serious safety issues which were our primary concern as the sound of the drums dramatically affected the noise levels and acoustics within the away stand and rendered the radio systems inoperable. In addition, we also received a number of complaints from home and away fans, some quite hostile."

He added: "We are sorry for any disappointment created and hope it does not spoil the visiting supporters' enjoyment." Santosh said he was "disappointed" at the ban and added: "It seems to be a sad state of affairs that football has got itself into if a drum can't be taken to an FA Cup game.

"I feel that although it would take more effort on their part, they could assess the individual merits of each application. We're not troublemakers and this drum is not powerful enough to drown everyone out. There is talk of taking the drum down to St Mary's anyway, but not take it into the stadium. So, at least the fans can have some fun beforehand."