Bury’s battling performance saw them reaffirm their NWCFL Premier Division title credentials, with a 1-0 win over FC St Helens at SMS Pro Soccer Park.
The Stripes headed into this one with hopes of bettering the 1-1 draw that the sides played at Gigg Lane in the corresponding fixture — along with them having intentions of displaying their resilience to bounce back from last week’s humbling 5-1 loss to Bury’s promotion rivals, Lower Breck.
However, it was The Shakers that made the brighter start. English football’s highest-scoring outfit have owed much to the exploits of frontman, DJ Pedro, who had scored 23 goals in 24 appearances — heading into this one — having arrived from National League North outfit, Buxton.
And, he’d have thought that he’d added to his ever-growing tally — only to be denied by Joe Mason, who would showcase an inspired performance between The Stripes’ sticks.
hat would prove to be a multitude of a saves that the goalkeeper would add to his showreel. Having tremendously kept Rustam Stepans stinging strike out, as well as reacting expertly to get down to palm Pedro’s downward header to safety, it looked inevitable that he would finally be beaten.
But, just as he’d already denied Pedro, he would do so again — after keeping Aaron Chalmers’ name off the scoresheet.
With that, Michael Smith’s side looked to capitalise — but their own frontman, Joe Barker, saw his optimistic effort fly wide, after he had controlled beautifully.
And, after Mason was there, once again, to save Josh Gregory’s cultured effort — the visitors would finally fulfil what was previously a seemingly impossible proposition, when Cameron Fogerty showed the desired composure to slot beyond Mason.
On the back of that opener, late into the first-half, The Shakers would look to pick up from where they had left off — early into the second-half.
As expected, Pedro was in the thick of the action, but Harry Hagan was on hand to produce a miraculous goal-line clearance, that very much kept The Stripes in the contest.
Having seen their endeavours to draw level restricted to a minimum, FC St Helens were provided with one last glimmer of hope.
However, when the ball fell fortuitously for Ethan Van-Aston, he would fire marginally over Mitchell Allen’s goal — ensuring that Bury’s place at the top of the tree was cemented, with another valuable three points to their name.