It just gets better and better for Andy

THIS week is just getting better for Bury boss Andy Preece.

He woke up on Sunday morning to read that he is rated one of the ten best young managers outside the Premiership by the Observer newspaper.

Then two days later to add credance to that opinion his charges roared back into an automatic promotion place with a late two goal blast that left Cambridge, one of their promotion rivals, reeling.

The Gigg Lane men showed just the kind of fighting spirit that they are going to need over the next few months if they are to maintain their bid to bounce back to Division Two at the first time of asking.

And the judgement of the highly-rated young Shakers boss proved crucial on a bitterly cold night at the Abbey Stadium.

His recent decision to entice back striker Colin Cramb paid an early dividend when the Scottish hitman grabbed the all-important winner six minutes from time, his first goal since arriving back at the club after an absence of two years.

The much-travelled Cramb has promised the Gigg Lane faithful he's greedy for goals to blast the Shakers back out of the basement division after the disappointment of relegation last year.

And Bury fans far and wide will be hoping his coolly taken effort will be the first of many.

But don't think this was a one-man show, far from it as all the team played their part in what was a gritty rather than classy performance.

Yet if any one player deserves special mention it was17-year-old super sub David Nugent.

Not for the first time this season the likeable Scouser put his side back on course after they looked like dropping vital points.

When Preece decided he should replace George Clegg with twenty minutes remaining the Shakers never looked back and his leveller after 78 minutes was an example of the kind of opportunism that has him marked down for a great future in the game.

Picking up the ball from Terry Dunfield just inside the Cambridge box he turned well and cut past a couple of defenders before unleashing a right footed shot that bamboozled Stuart Marshall in the home goal and crept over the line.

From then on there was only one team going to win the game and the clincher arrived just six minutes later when Cramb, who'd hit the bar in the first half, beat the U's offside trap to calmly beat Marshall in a one-on-one.

It was a far cry from a first half that saw Cambridge take the lead thanks to a Tom Youngs strike that had more than an element of farce about it.

A long ball out of defence by Kitson should have been meat and drink for the Bury defence but Glyn Garner in the Shakers goal completely misjudged the situation and after racing out of his goal found himself in no-mans-land, giving Youngs had an easy of chances to fire an angled drive into an unguarded goal.

With regulars Chris Billy and Lee Unsworth missing through suspension it looked as though their absence was going to be costly until those final fifteen minutes.

In dangerman Omer Riza - a youngster on loan from West Ham - the home side had a player capable of causing the Bury defence plenty of problems and they needed no reminding about his ability as he grabbed the winning goal in the corresponding match at Gigg Lane back in August.

When the Shakers went forward play broke down on the edge of the Cambridge box far too often until the introduction of Nugent gave them an added spark.

However, there could have been a sting in the tail just before the final whistle when Riza ran at the Shakers defence before setting up a glorious chance for substitute Daniel Chillingworth.

Fortunately for Bury the youngster didn't have his shooting boots on and fired wide from six yards.

The celebrations from the visitors bench and the 98 travelling fans at the final whistle told their own story and news that promotion rivals Oxford United and AFC Bournemouth both went down to shock defeats only made the victory the sweeter.

BURY FORM GUIDE

Glyn Garner...7

Jamie Stuart...7

Danny Swailes...7

Michael Nelson...8

Paul O'Shaughnessy...8

George Clegg...6

Steve Redmond...7

Lee Connell...7

Colin Cramb...8

Terry Dunfield...7

Jon Newby...6

Subs: Nugent (for Clegg, 73); Forrest (for Newby, 86) Not used: Preece, Woodthorpe and Evans.

Yellow cards: O'Shaughnessy (33), Swailes (59,) Nelson (83)

CAMBRIDGE UNITED: Marshall, Murray, Duncan, Tann, Angus (Revell, 45), Wanless, Kitson, Youngs, Guttridge (Chillingworth, 81), Nacca (Bridges, 20), Riza. Subs not used: Brennan and Heathcote.

Yellow cards: None for Cambridge

REFEREE: Mr R. Beeby (Northants)

ATTENDANCE: 2,875 (98 from Bury)