ANDY Welsh has vowed to keep on fighting after Bury AFC’s heart-breaking exit from the FA Vase in a penalty shoot-out.

After battling out a 1-1 draw at NWCL Premier Division rivals Congleton Town, it was the hosts who booked their place in semi finals after winning 5-4 in the shoot-out.

While Welsh admitted his players were hurting he said the ‘moment’ has gone and attentions now turn to the league - and Saturday’s local derby at Prestwich Heys.

“When it goes to a penalty shoot-out it can be a lottery,” he told the club’s Facebook page. “We have been on the end where we have won them so, as a football club, we wish Congleton all the best in the next round.

“That’s life sometimes you have to take big hits on the chin. It’s just disappointing that it is in the quarter final, it hurts that little bit more.

“It is a moment, if we had won and gone through it is a moment but now you have to go on to the next game, we now have to focus our attentions on the league.

“We are still in an unbelievable position so at the minute we are having a superb season, we want to continue that and I thought the fans were great, the turnout was outstanding, the atmosphere was great.”

On Saturday, Congleton took an 11th minute lead through Daniel Needham with Jonathan Hunt levelling for Bury just four minute later.

Despite their best efforts, Bury could not make the breakthrough and their FA Vase adventure came to an end.

“The one thing I said that when I came to the football club is that I will never have a team that won’t leave it out on the pitch and they ran themselves in to the ground,” added Welsh.

“We have to be consistent with our minds, we have to be consistent with the way we want to play but as a team, it hurts but that is cup football.”

Bury are fifth in the table and 11 points behind leaders Avro but have up to five games in hand on teams above them and can now concentrate on mounting a promotion challenge.

“I am more that proud of this team and delighted to lead it and need everyone behind us from now until the end of the season,” said Welsh.

“There will be good moments, there will be bad moments, there will be suffering but if we are not all on the same hymn sheet then there is no point in turning up so we need to get behind the lads no matter what.

“When we are low we stick together, when we are high enjoy those moments but it is a moment and we move on to the next game.

We are getting battered by that side of it at the minute but we have to get on with it, we have to make our own luck, players have to step up that might not have played as many minutes.

And we have to adjust, it is not going to look perfect every time. Sometimes we have to really get behind the players and see how they work out and some put a shift in and if they are not they come off the pitch but I can’t fault this group of players.

He added; “We have been so consistent this year, you might look at it and say you have lost five games in the league and you have lost in cups but to compete like we have up until March and we have gone out on penalties to a team that has only lost once at home all year on a pitch that is really hard to play on.

“For me, that is something to be celebrated and give players belief that they are still playing for stuff this time of the year and we want to go on and we want to do well but we need to make sure now that players coming in are ready to go, fans are playing their part, everyone is playing their part because this is our club, this is our town, let’s keep fighting.”