DAVID Flitcroft admitted in a radio interview after Tuesday night’s victory at Accrington that he had learned a lot during Bury’s bad run in November and December.

Those days, when the Shakers went eight games without a win, now seem to be well and truly behind them.

And I think Flicker has proved with the difficult decisions he made during their barren spell that he has grown as a manager.

Taking the captaincy from Jim McNulty and dropping him in favour of loan signing Adam El-Abd will have been tough because it required him to question his own judgement in giving it to the defender in the first place.

Handing the armband to young Nathan Cameron was also a bold move, but after taking seven points from the last three games you really can’t argue with his reasoning.

It is a lot easier to make those decisions when you are winning.

But Flicker had to show real strength of character to go back to the drawing board when results were not going his way.

Bury should rightly be brimming with confidence now.

Earning a draw against league leaders Wycombe was never going to be easy. Carlisle are fighting for their lives, but they beat them comfortably, and Accrington is always a tough place to go to.

What I think the players need now is to see a settled side and for the manager to keep it simple.

After making those difficult judgement calls in December, Flicker has made very few changes over the last few weeks and I hope he continues in that vein.

It is easy, of course, to identify the problem areas from the outside, but finding the solutions is not always that simple.

Nick Pope looks to be the answer in goal, so hopefully that issue has been dealt with now.

And with Joe Riley coming on at right-back at half time on Tuesday and a longer-term deal in the offing for El-Abd, it looks as if Flitcroft finally has the defence he has been working towards.

Riley’s introduction at Accrington also allowed the manager to take Kelvin Etuhu out of the firing line and try Tom Soares alongside Andrew Tutte in central midfield, which is another area supporters have questioned.

The Bury boss has clearly identified these issues but it has taken time to get the right pieces of the jigsaw in place to solve the puzzle, and that is something supporters don’t always appreciate.

Flitcroft’s next big task will be to fill the hole left by injured striker Ryan Lowe.

Strengthening the backline was vital to give the team a platform to build on, but clean sheets do not win games on their own.