BURY went into the Christmas break on a high with victories for both the men's and women's first teams.

The senior ladies side stretched their lead at the top of Division Two in the Greater Manchester Hockey Association with a 3-0 win against the Bury seconds, who remain second bottom, in the relegation places.

But the head-to-head provided a good yardstick for the improvements the second string have made over the course of the season after losing the reverse fixture 9-0.

Despite taking a sixth-minute lead through Emma Bailey’s short-corner strike, the first team did not have it all their own way as a dogged performance from the second team, and some fine shot stopping from keeper Hania Nicholson, saw them frustrate the attacking threat of the league leaders.

A well-worked goal after 25 minutes saw Angela Short turn the ball home from close range to double the lead, but this was a far cry from the first-team's opening-day rout.

The second half saw more sterling defensive work from the second team as they again frustrated their club-mates, clearing a number of short corners and harrying forwards into mistakes before they could get clean shots off.

With just 30 seconds remaining, Charlotte Bates turned in a third goal for the first team that reflected their attacking superiority but felt a little harsh after such a solid defensive display from the second team.

Meanwhile, the men's first team made it four wins in a row with a 2-1 victory at Didsbury Northern 4s.

Bury took the lead after just nine minutes following a neat move down the right-hand side. Adam Friend received the ball from skipper Tariq Sheikh and cleverly passed across goal for Rog Fogwill to smash the bouncing ball into the top corner.

The home side levelled 10 minutes later through a short corner before keeper Jonathan Howard pulled off an important save.

At the other end, Friend and Jack Marshall-Grint were a handful for the Didsbury defence, but despite gaining the upper hand Bury did not make their superiority count until midway through the second half, when Friend finished off a short-corner routine.

The win left Bury in sixth, level on points with fifth-placed Kendal.