BURY goal ace Ronnie Jepson today insisted: "You ain't seen nothing yet."
The experienced striker blasted the Second Division's surprise leaders to another three points with his seventh goal in his last 12 starts against Crewe on Tuesday night - then promised his adoring fans they would see a new and improved model next season.
"People here haven't seen anything like what I can do," declared the 10-goal second top scorer who has been plagued by injury virtually from day one of his Bury career.
"I'm happy with my goals ratio but unhappy with my season on the whole.
"Because of injury I have not trained much at all since I arrived at Bury last summer and as a consequence I've been nowhere near full fitness.
"The problem has been a trapped nerve in the back which affects the hamstring area. The only cure is rest and obviously I can't give it that during the season so I'll be looking to rest it in the summer and get it right.
"Some people have given me stick without realising the situation behind the scenes. All I can say is I haven't played anything like I did last season."
Jepson, a bargain £40,000 signing from Huddersfield Town despite his injury problems, has been through a successful Second Division promotion campaign with the Yorkshire club and that experience is proving vital as the pressure grows.
And he pinpoints the enormous spirit of togetherness among Bury's small but close-knit squad as the secret of their against-all-odds success.
"Up front myself and Tony Battersby are in at the moment with Mark Carter and David Johnson on the bench but while there is competition for places there is no animosity between the lads whatsoever.
"It's the same story in defence where Andy Woodward and Ian Hughes have come in after being out of the side for long spells. It's a squad game.
"There are no superstars here and we don't get too much recognition, but that suits us.
"Nobody fancied us at the start of the season when I think we were one of the favourites to go straight back down. But we've got on with it quietly and worked really hard as a squad.
"Our home form has been outstanding and we're in a great position now.
"It's very tight at the top but, out of our four remaining games, we've got two at home and if we can win them I would imagine that would be enough to take us up."
Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.
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