IT was the tale of three players for me at Bury this week – the emergence of Rob Lainton, the continued rise of Danny Mayor and the impending departure of Matty Foulds.

I am really pleased for Rob and Danny, but while any deal done to sell Matty might be good for the club in the short term, I think he would have been better served fighting for a place at Bury.

Lainton’s form is testament to that. I hold my hands up, when Christian Walton’s loan deal was cut short at the start of the season I said Bury would need to sign another keeper.

He didn’t seem to have the trust of the manager but Rob has come in to prove everybody wrong and I am really chuffed for the lad.

From what I saw on Tuesday night, he was oozing confidence, even in the warm up.

He looked like he belonged there and feels part of it now. That is largely down to the confidence shown in him by David Flitcroft and his team-mates in the back four.

They have every right to feel secure with Rob in goal as he has produced a number of match-winning performances.

His saves ensured Bury held out for the 1-0 wins at Walsall and at Colchester.

And he didn’t deserve to be on the losing side against Morecambe after his superb block to deny Kevin Ellison and keep the score at 0-0 early in the second half.

It is clear Rob is the sort of player who needs an arm around the shoulder, and responds to the softly approach.

That is the job of the manager, to pick up on that, and I am really pleased for both Flitcroft and Rob that things seem to be clicking into place now.

Danny is another one that needs to be handled correctly to flourish and he is certainly doing that at Bury.

He has looked a class apart at times this season and I think the chairman has done the right thing in securing his services on a longer-term deal.

You can be sure the scouts are out there tracking his progress and, if the unthinkable happens and he is tempted away by an offer in January, at least the club will get top dollar for him.

I am sure that is also the situation with Matty. I know money talks in football, but putting the needs of Bury to one side, I feel he would have benefited from the opportunity of regular first team football.

He won’t develop half as quickly in the under-21s of a Championship club and I just hope his talent does not get lost in the system.