DELIGHTED Bury boss Stan Ternent reflected on his side's remarkable rise to the Nationwide first division and put their second promotion in two years down to some good old-fashioned northern graft.

The Shakers made their point to those who have doubted their credentials by securing a place with the likes of Manchester City and Birmingham next season after gaining a goalless draw at Watford.

And it also immediately raised Ternent's profile in the game as one Sunday newspaper linked him with the vacant manager's job at Stoke. "It's pure speculation, I'm not interested," he said today as he paid tribute to the players and people behind the scenes at Gigg Lane.

"The players have been wonderful, I have a chairman in Terry Robinson, who has done everything for this club and a director Hugh Eaves who has put his money where his mouth is.

"I've won promotion with a few clubs and it gets better each time but this is the highlight for me. It's a great club and an honour like this is fully deserved."

"But when I took over we were down at the bottom of the league and since then it's been a lot of hard work."

Promoted in third position behind Preston and Gillingham in last season's third division, Bury's success this campaign has been helped by the league's only unbeaten home record.

And the target now is to keep that record and clinch the Championship against Millwall at Gigg Lane.

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