Erw-in demand

HAPPY DAYS . . . Athletic's Lee Erwin (third left) heads to join in the goal celebrations at Gigg Lane on Saturday

STEPHEN Robinson saluted his hard-working front line after getting his first managerial success in Sky Bet League One under his belt, revealing that Lee Erwin's form has already sparked interest from rival clubs.

Though it took an early Leon Barnett own goal to separate the teams at Gigg Lane, on-loan Leeds forward Erwin hit the post with a first-half effort and though still to get off the mark in terms of goals for Athletic, he was one of the shining lights as he took on a club at which he endured a brief, tough spell last year.

Erwin (21), who moved to Leeds for £300,000 from Motherwell before the start of last season, is with Athletic on a season-long deal and could in theory be recalled by the Elland Road club in January.

"Lee Erwin has been terrific and I have had my phone ringing already," said Robinson (right), who worked with the strong young striker when he was assistant manager at Fir Park.

"We will do well just to keep Lee here for the year.

"He is an absolute handful at this level and people can't handle him at times. He created the chance out of nothing when he hit the post and it will come for him, I have no worries about that.

"If Billy Mckay and Lee keep working as hard as they do and if we keep winning games with them not scoring then I'll be delighted."

Mckay was another who put in a real shift up front and Robinson said it was vital his men matched up to the challenge set by Bury, as he picked up three points which move the club up to 14th place in the table.

"It's a part of our game now that we are physical and aggressive," the manager added.

"We are not the tallest team in the world, but when you have characters like Paul Green, Peter Clarke and Marc Klok coming in they will run into the ground for you and that's what you want.

"If you don't match Bury, they will roll you over. For the first 10 minutes they did that and we probably scored against the run of play.

"From then on, we were in control not only of the physical battle but of the football as well."

Robinson, who now prepares his side for tomorrow night's EFL Cup round two tie at Preston, also saluted the non-stop noise emerging from the away end at Gigg Lane as a loud Athletic following enjoyed their day out.

"I said to the players that there were 1,500 fans here today and what they want to see is energy, desire, drive and passion," he said.

"They gave it to them in abundance so we sent away a lot of people happy."

Athletic are hopeful of adding their Premier League loan striker target early this week.