FANS, players and management were jubilant at Gigg Lane on Saturday after the 5,658-strong crowd had waited with bated breath for the result of the drama still unfolding at Scunthorpe's Glanford Park where the home team were entertaining Darlington. The final whistle had gone and Bury had already done their bit with a confident 3-0 victory over Cardiff City, but emotions were running from high to low as promotion rivals Darlington clawed back a two-goal deficit to level the scores.

As time ticked on another goal came from Scunthorpe, then the instant promotion hopefuls levelled again to make it 3-3 - and hit the bar with minutes remaining!

But when radios announced that 3-3 was the final result the atmosphere at Gigg Lane was electric. Hundreds of fans ran on to the pitch to cheer their heroes as the players came out to celebrate.

A jubilant Tony Rigby, scorer of Bury's third goal, said: "When we won the game it was weird waiting for the Darlington result. Me and Pughie were shaking in the dressing-room.

"I couldn't listen to the radio so I waited for the crowd's response. We heard the cheer, and knew we were up!"

Defender Chris Lucketti described it as "absolutely unbelievable" and manager Stan Ternent was overwhelmed.

"It's a lovely feeling, and I'm pleased for the chairman, Hugh Eaves, who has put his money where his mouth is.

"And I'm pleased for the players. They've given me everything they've got. They've been absolutely marvellous and we've come out on top.

"The supporters, too, have been absolutely brilliant. We need that, every match we play."

The game at Gigg Lane took back stage after Bury had given themselves a comfortable lead.

Skipper David Pugh scored the first from close range. David Johnson added a second but got booked for whipping his shirt off in celebration, and Rigby's 18-yard shot beat the 'keeper for the third.

But the loudest cheers came as the results from Scunthorpe filtered through. Automatic promotion for the Shakers no longer seemed a vague hope but became more of a reality as Scunthorpe forged ahead.

Describing Bury's game as being "difficult to play" David Pugh said: "Our game was dead and buried after we'd scored the three goals.

"I was going off the crowd's reaction. It was hard concentrating as everyone was listening to radios and shouting out the score every few minutes."

And Lenny Johnrose was going through similar agonies. "The last 15 minutes of the game were unbearable," he added.

"The fans were screaming and shouting, and at the end it was the worst feeling ever. The dressing-room was the quietest it's ever been, then it was a great feeling when the fans started screaming and shouting and we knew we were up."

Taking up the story Nick Daws confirmed the day as the greatest in his career, so far.

"We were all certain that we could get a result today," he said. "We have only recently been to Scunthorpe and it's always a difficult place to go.

"We all thought that Scunthorpe might do us a favour. The pressure was on Darlington as it had been on ourselves over the last couple of weeks."

Nick added that he was delighted the team had gained promotion and that he had played his part in it.

As the team prepared for a few nights of celebration Tony Rigby offered the view that next season will be "interesting."

"I've been talking to my friends at Crewe and they say their league is not a lot different. Maybe the quality is a little better, but with the size of the squad we've got at the moment I don't think we'll have a problem."

Cardiff manager Phil Neal also had words of praise for Bury. "They deserve to go up," he said. "They've done it over a season, and my congratulations go to Stan, and to Sam Ellis. Bury have got a powerful unit and will certainly hold their own next season."

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