After two consecutive victories, Bury Blue Devils were in confident mood when they travelled to Knutsford to take on Egerton.

Both teams struggled to gain a foothold in the game due to the uneven wooden floor and some unpredictable bounces of the ball with only Mike Nichols, Phil Stainton and man-of-the-match Stuart Jackson hitting the target for the visitors as Bury scored six points at the end of the first quarter. The good news was Egerton also only managed to scrape six points together.

The second quarter saw some better movement by both teams leading to baskets with Nick Marshall, Stainton and Jackson being the beneficiaries of some good passes by Jason Knowles.

At the halfway point, Bury held a narrow two-point advantage and a change of defence tactics from zone to man paid dividends. Ergoli Togo and Bart Szareko flustered the opponents big men defensively while Elliot Smith found room under the basket for easy buckets. The team unity was apparent by the encouragement from the bench and the intensity on the court helping the Blue Devils to a 37-28 lead with a quarter to go.

Led by Knowles, Bury extended the lead with a three, and further scores by Smith and a big three from Stainton built up a 19-point advantage with six minutes remaining.

However, Egerton found a new lease of life, going on a 13-4 run, to cut the lead to 10 points with two minutes remaining. A basket by Marshall but further scores from the hosts reduced the lead further but patience and a controlled offence by the Blue Devils allowed them to claim the victory.

After the game coach Nichols said: We recently implemented a new offence which the guys have really bought into. In the first quarter we were conscious of running the play to perfection, a little too much in terms of getting the ball in the basket but it helped us bond as a team. Egerton have always been competitive but our ability to be creative and control at the end of a game helped us get the win."

The Blue Devils are at home to Our Ladys tomorrow.