Town’s support has been fan-tastic

9:20am Thursday 2nd October 2008

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IAN Harrop has thanked the town for getting behind Alan Knill’s League Two high-flyers on Saturday – and urged them to keep it up.

The Gigg Lane gate soared past the 3,000 mark for the first time this season as the Shakers ground out a 0-0 draw against Wycombe to remain at the summit of League Two.

In fact 3,597 spectators passed through the turnstiles to boost the leaders, and director Harrop said: “Being a hardened Bury supporter for many years, it was great to see the town respond to our pleas and back us.

“And, although we didn’t win, I think they all went away thinking it was a good advert for League Two football.

“It was an entertaining game and, despite being 0-0, was one of the best games I have seen for a while.

“Anyone who has seen us will agree that we don’t hoof it forward; we try to be patient and break down teams.

“It was a tremendous increase on our gate. Wycombe only brought about 300 fans, so that shows how many Bury fans turned out and I would like to thank them for that.

“Hopefully they will come again and help push us on even further.”

Bury have had their best start to a season in more than 50 years, and there has been a real buzz around Gigg Lane since the arrival of manager Knill in February.

The former Rotherham boss has transformed Bury from a struggling side to one that is challenging at the top of the table – and Harrop has nothing but praise for his manager.

“Alan has done fantastically well,” he said.

“He has instilled a superb work ethic, a very professional attitude and a will to win.

“The players have taken that on board and they want to win every game, and if they don’t win they make sure they don’t lose.

“They keep running until the 90th minute to get a result and that bodes well for the future. We know, however, we are dependant on staying injury free because we have not got the resources to dip into the loan market too often. But, if we have to, we will certainly see what we can do.”

Bury’s unbeaten start to the season may have surprised some observers, but Harrop believes it was always within the team’s capabilities.

He said: “When I looked at the fixtures at the start of the season, I said the division would be wide open in terms of being able to compete at the upper end.

“The teams that were relegated have started on minus points, and there are no obvious teams like MK Dons and Peterborough last season, who had money to burn. There are still clubs with greater resources, like Bradford and Shrewsbury, but if we can keep this squad together and stay clear of injuries we can do well.

“We want to go through October unbeaten now.”