Bury...9pts

Eccles...21pts

THE result could have been decided in the first 15 minutes as Bury camped in the Eccles 22 and both scrum half Livesey and centre Fawcett were stopped only 5 metres from the line.

In the scrum Bury were once more totally dominant, particularly in the set scrum where they took the first two Eccles put-ins against the head.

But after that promising start it was Eccles who opened the scoring with a penalty 18 metres from the posts after Bury had been adjudged to have not released the ball.

For the next quarter of an hour the game ebbed and flowed with neither side gaining the advantage and it wasn't until the 35th minute that Bury levelled, stand-off Glyn Smith converting after Eccles had conceded a further 10 metres for dissent.

Two minutes later the visitors were ahead once more with a 20 metre penalty after Bury had been caught offside.

Smith was offered a further opportunity to level the scores with a penalty from 35 metres into the swirling wind. He was successful; but the effort resulted in a groin strain which forced him to leave the field.

His replacement was Matt Boyd who filled in for Jon Lofthouse who switched from centre to stand-off.

In the last minute of the first half Bury were awarded another penalty, this one from 42 yards. With their kicker off the field it was left to Keith Webb to silence the vociferous, but knowledgeable Eccles support, with a superb conversion.

With the wind at their back after the interval Bury sniffed victory but Parkinson's Law - If something can go wrong it will - prevailed.

There are three rules in defending an up and under, firstly to get to the pitch of the ball, secondly to take the ball with you body at an angle to minimise the chance of a knock-on and thirdly to be aware of the opposition, thereby leaving options open.

All that is academic if you miss the ball completely in your own in-goal area and the opposition touch down. It happened, Eccles did and the lead was theirs again.

Bury were to lose Number 8 forward Nick Smithson with a knee injury and David Shimmins entered the fray as a replacement for prop Smythe who took over at Number 8.

The modern game is obsessed with drift defence in the three-quarter line but the old adage "Don't buy the dummy' still applies. The Eccles inside centre sold a beauty and with a two-man overlap he came off his outside foot to score an unconverted try.

Bury boast new pitch configuration - there is a maximum permissible playing area plus a 15 metre dead-ball area replacing last season's 5 metre one - but at times it can work against teams.

It gives defenders room and time to clear their lines but it can also provide attackers with more space to work in. On this occasion Bury won a 5-metre scrum, passed back to allow the clearing kick only to see a predatory Eccles scrum half pounce for another unconverted try.

Despite a 12-point lead Eccles didn't dismiss Bury lightly and given a shot at goal they decided to take it. They failed and two converted tries could clinched it for the home side.

Bury battered away at the Eccles line for the final ten minutes but the visitors defending admirably to maintain their advantage.

Bury's Man of the Match award was shared between skipper John Westwood and Jon Lofthouse, the latter now in his mid-30s and with a first team career curtailed by two detached retinas. But he is still a class act and commands his place on ability and not sentiment.

BURY: Smythe, Whitehead, Holland, Kennedy, A. Smith, Westwood (c), Smithson, Robinson, Livesey, G. Smith, Stott, Lofthouse, Fawcett, Wardle, Webb. Replacements: Boyd for G. Smith 39; Shimmins for Smithson 55.

Bury continue their North Lancashire League One programme with a game at Lytham tomorrow. Kick-off 3pm.