THE Shakers still have a way to go after reaching base camp in their quest for promotion from League Two.

That is the view of manager David Flitcroft after his side concluded the first half of their campaign in eighth place, level on points with Plymouth in the final play-off spot and seven points off the automatic promotion places.

“We have done better than ok,” he said.

“We have not stuck to the task in as many games as I would have liked but there is an incredible unity and togetherness within that squad, in my staff and in my chairman.

“We know what we are trying to do and I want to deliver success for this football club.

“But I certainly know a lot more about my squad after 23 games.

“For me we are at base camp and we are now starting the march up to the top of Everest.”

Bury will have to navigate their way towards a potential promotion push over the next few months on a pitch that is fast breaking up.

The club are understood to have spent around ÂŁ150,000 installing a new drainage system and relaying the pitch at the JD Stadium over the summer.

But Flitcroft says the new surface has not lived up to expectations.

“The pitch now has gone,” he said.

“I feel for the chairman and I feel for the ground staff here.

“They worked tirelessly on it, but it has gone. It has completely gone.

“There are undulations everywhere, so to ask the players to play on it like they do, they have been fantastic.”

Bury chairman Stewart Day agreed to invest in the pitch following a request from the manager, who wanted a surface that would make it easier for his side to play his brand of passing football.

Flitcroft switched to a more defensive formation at the tail end of last season to help cut down potential mistakes on a surface that had become badly cut up following a winter of heavy rain, which forced the club to postpone a number of matches due to a waterlogged pitch.

Those problems looked to be behind them this season, with no homes games postponed as yet.

Their new surface even helped to attract the attention of the FA, who chose the ground to host an Under-18s international in the autumn.

But it now seems as if a tight turnaround over the summer, with the club moving a pre-season friendly against Sheffield Wednesday to the AJ Bell Stadium in Salford to give the surface more time to bed in, could have backfired.