BURY coach Billy Ayre has revealed why Liverpool loan star Jon Newby has been such a success - because he's not stuck up!

Ayre said that though Newby played for a Premiership club and was used to some of the best footballing facilities in the country, he had not been afraid to roll up his sleeves and get stuck in at Gigg Lane.

And the results have been tremendous for the Shakers, with Bury unbeaten since Newby joined gathering a magnificent 10 points from the last 12 on offer.

"The lad's been a delight since he came down here from a Premiership club," revealed Ayre. "There's no airs or graces about him. He's done everything we've asked of him in training and he's come up trumps every time."

Bury are desperate to hang on to the talented striker for more than the agreed one-month period and ideally would like to keep him at Gigg until the end of the season.

"John has added another dimension to the team with his unselfish running and he creates opportunities," said Ayre. "Before he arrived we weren't doing that but since he came it's all changed.

"Hopefully he will stay because the lad enjoys being here and we enjoy having him here.

"If his soccer education is going to benefit from being at Gigg Lane then I'm sure Mr Houllier will think that giving him more than one month at Bury Football Club will be a good idea."

Player manager Andy Preece also agrees, claiming Newby has been a hit because he's a grafter.

"He works his socks off," said Preece. "He does the ugly side of the game as well. He closes people down and is an absolute nightmare for defenders.

"His work rate is second to none and that probably goes unnoticed by a lot of people but it doesn't go unnoticed by the rest of the team.

"It would be easy for him to just come here and wait for chances to come to him but he hasn't done that. I tried to get him for a long time and he was well worth the wait."

Bury reserves had a tremendous 3-2 win over Tranmere Rovers yesterday to move into the quarter finals of the Avon Insurance Cup. Ady Littlejohn, Paul Barnes and Baichung Bhutia scored the Shakers goals while Wayne Allison bagged both for Rovers. Today a Bury youth team, including a teenage trialist from Newcastle, takes on Oldham in the Manchester Senior Cup.