BURY climbed back up to third place in the league with a hard fought win in a controversial encounter at Daisy Hill on Saturday.

The Radcliffe Road men had been languishing in mid-table following back-to-back defeats at Astley and Tyldesley and Atherton last month, but captain Sean Gibson believes his side’s title charge is now firmly back on track.

“It’s great to be challenging at the top again,” he said.

“We always knew we were playing well despite being 11th in the table.

“We’ve got winnable games coming up in the next couple of weeks so we are looking good for a title push.”

Abid Younas (28), Naveed Yousuf (29) and captain Steven Chilton (23) all batted well as Daisy opened with 169-8. Gibson impressed with the ball with figures of 5-48.

Bury responded at a moderate pace and Ashen Silva rode his luck being fumbled first ball before going on to score 58 – and Alex Breckin added 36.

But two controversial moments led to a nervous ending for the visitors as first a batsman was wrongly dismissed for a run out and then the square leg umpire called a run out for the ninth wicket.

After consultating his fellow umpire the decision was reversed and Bury recorded victory, much to the relief of Gibson.

“We were cruising it and needed just three to win with three wickets in hand,” he said.

“Those bad decisions could have cost us the game. but fortunately we got the win in the end.”

Bury slumped to a 74-run home defeat to Littleborough of the Central Lancashire League in the Lancashire Knockout on Sunday.

Chris Schofield top-scored with 106 for the visitors and Clinton Perren added 58 to post an impressive 202-6 – despite Tong bowling 5-16.

Silva (37), Breckin (26) and Mohammed Janghir (25) led the response but they were subdued to 128-9 at the end of their 45 overs.