BURY kept up their hopes of promotion with a hard-fought victory over lowly Westhoughton.

They cemented their position in fourth place in the North West Men’s League Division Three after scoring seven tries to the Lions’ two.

The Broncos, fresh from a two-week break, made all of the early running, storming into a 10-0 lead with two tries in the opening 20 minutes before adding a third before the break.

Adam Radford was on fine form, bagging a hat-trick with some lung-busting runs.

Crafty play from the Lions’ hooker saw the home side peg a try back But Bury extended their lead to 38-6 as Martin Wilcock, Rick Brogan and Mark Brocklehurst ran in scores, with the conversions taken by Chris Ready, before the Lions ran over a consolation try. “Fresh after a couple of weeks’ rest the Broncos were ready to come out hard,” said club spokesman Ryan Lewis.

“All of the players showed a lot of commitment and effort, which proved to be the winning formula on the day. Bury moved the ball well along the line and kept their handling errors to a minimum.

“They were the dominant side and controlled the game from the outset.”

Elsewhere, the Broncos’ A side enjoyed a thumping 48-0 win at Runcorn, only their third of the campaign.

And the Under-18s held off the challenge of in-form Pilkington Recs B, who went into the game with six wins from seven games, to record a hugely impressive 52-18 victory.

The U16s very nearly added to the winning theme, going down 34-22 in a keenly-fought contest at Woolston, while the U14s endured a similar fate, losing 36-20 to the Scorpions.