THE days of an easy victory over Sandwell from Birmingham seem to be over.

The club from the West Midlands faced extinction a few years ago but a major recruitment drive has seen the club, one of the oldest in the country, established 1948, enjoy a tremendous revival and last Sunday's national league fixtures at Goshen, stand as a testament to their success.

Two excellent and very competitive matches saw the honours shared as Bury took a narrow four point victory in the combination match and the visitors triumphed by eight in the first division.

With Bury missing two regulars for the second team it was always going to be tough and so it proved with the scores locked together throughout the twelve heats. Bury were never actually behind and their biggest lead was seven points but in the end it was a relief when the final score of 60.56 was achieved.

Young Tom Doyle was brilliant and the second team skipper was an inspiration with 15 pts dropping just one to an opponent in his four rides. Michael Parrish added 13+ 1 in his best performance to date scoring two race wins. Steve Muff, as tactical reserve, and Scott Jarman, took two rides each being saved for the first team match and scored 3+1 and 6+1 respectively. Chris Parrish added 11, Will Collins, 7+3.

The first team match also saw Bury minus two regular stalwarts but it was still felt they had enough scoring power to win the day.

They reckoned without a magnificent 20 pts maximum from veteran returner for Sandwell, Ivan Darby, who never put a wheel wrong all afternoon.

Skipper Neil Howarth scored a great 17+2 dropping his only point to Darby in his opening ride but with two riders carrying injuries and Mark Rushby below his best, it was an uphill struggle.

At the end Bury seemed to be in shock and a last heat 7-3 was too little too late to save the day and the 84-92 scoreline was a big disappointment.

Neil Howarth 17+2, Mark Rushby 13, Scott Jarman 12+2, Ben Scranage 11, Tom Doyle 11, Fred Rothwell 10, Steve Muff 8, Michael Parrish 2.

On Sunday Bury-Pedalsport entertain Birmingham in national league fixtures and will be looking to do the double having won in the Midlands a few weeks ago.

Second team 2pm first team 3pm.

Club training nights have resumed and will be every Thursday at the Goshen track from 7pm onwards.