BURY remain second in North Lancs Division Two despite falling to their first defeat of the season at Eagle on Saturday.

The manner of defeat – by just three points – meant the Radcliffe Road men secured an all-important bonus point from what was a feisty encounter.

Eagle opened the scoring with a penalty for an infringement at the breakdown – the first of many contested decisions from the official.

Bury responded with some dominant mauling from the pack, led by James Swinburn, and after the ball was moved by Karl Simpson to Adam Heath for a sublime cross-field kick to the unmarked Sam Ware, he stormed over for a converted try.

An even, but bad-tempered, passage of play followed when the home side were reduced to 14 men after their prop-forward was sin-binned.

Despite the numerical advantage, Bury struggled to breach the Eagle defence, and when they did their ‘try’ was ruled out after the officials deemed the ball had not been grounded.

Possibly still feeling aggrieved by the decision, a missed tackle in the Bury midfield allowed the home side to take a slender lead into the half-time break.

Tempers were still high in the second half and two further players – one from each side – were sent to the sin bin.

Eagle found it easier to adjust and stretched their lead with another try.

But Bury showed a real die-hard spirit to come back.

Quick thinking by Simpson helped start a break from the side of a ruck and, as the scrum half threw a dummy pass before darting into the opposition half, Ben and Lawrence Shedwick continued the move across the field, giving winger Elliott Naylor a clear path to the try line where he grounded the ball while avoiding the trailing defence.

The home side capitalised on Bury’s failure to secure a bobbling ball to restore their lead with another try but again the visitors rallied and man-of-the-match Ware was on hand to weave his way to the line to take them to within three points.

With time against Bury, they were unable to convert territorial advantage and had to settle for a losing bonus point and their first loss of the season.

Bury face third-placed Hutton at Bury Sports Club on Saturday, kick off 3pm.