WANDERERS got a dose of good fortune on the penalty front at Bury – but Phil Parkinson insists his side deserved it.

Zach Clough scored twice from the spot to give the Whites a fifth consecutive victory, lifting them into second spot in the League One table.

Bury boss David Flitcroft branded the award as “soft” adding that Clough “could not wait to jump on the floor.”

But Parkinson argued that Wanderers were due a penalty, having seen a number of stone-wall appeals turned down earlier in the campaign.

“We had that little bit of calmness and quality in our play and Zach summed it up,” he said after the game. “If they were soft penalties then we were due that little bit of luck.

“We haven’t had a penalty all season but no-one could argue that we haven’t had the best chances in the game.

“Proctor should have scored, Cloughy had another chance when he was clean through. All round it was a very strong performance.

“That’s five clean sheets in a row now and right from Sammy (Ameobi) and Zach (Clough) at the front, the work they are putting in without the ball is incredible.”

Wanderers rarely had to be at their best to chalk up a first win at Gigg Lane in the league for 87 years.

But backed by more than 3,000 travelling fans they produced another solid display to leave their manager delighted.

“It’s good that it’s hard to pick a man of the match,” he said. “Everyone is putting a shift in for the team.

“I could feel the momentum building with our supporters. I said to the lads before the game that I could feel they were getting on our side and that if we could get a win it would only increase.

“They have been here many times over the years and not seen a victory but to give them one is a very special feeling.”

Flitcroft watched his side slip to a sixth successive defeat and leave the field to jeers from the home fans who had stayed to the final whistle.

But the Shakers boss was adamant that referee Geoff Eltringham was wrong to award the penalties against Niall Maher and Leon Barnett.

"I've looked at them, spoke to the ref as he came off the pitch to ask him, certainly what he thought of the first one. He said he clipped him, he was so far away he thought he clipped him,” he said.

“Obviously he's not done but that was his explanation for the first one.

“I don't even think it's a foul if it's outside the box, I think Zach's gone down very, very easily, couldn't wait to jump on the floor.

“It's the decision you don't have to make in any game but a local derby, with so much riding on it, and so much at stake, it's a decision that he's made from a very, very long way away.

“The second one, Barney's leaned across him, out of balance, and again Zach's gone down.

“He can almost let Barney fall on the floor, side-step him, get a shot off, but again he goes down and gets a penalty awarded. They are two very soft penalties and he's made a decision which changes the course of the game.

"If you're the Bolton manager you're probably saying well done to your player. A player going down too easy - it's a message I wouldn't really send out. It happened at the weekend and it's happened tonight.”