BURY men's first team took four points from six last weekend against two Cumbrian opponents.

On Saturday, James Larmett’s side drew 2-2 at Carlisle with goals from Joe Perkins and Darren Long, although they should have comfortably won the game as a multitude of chances were spurned in both halves.

However, with fellow strugglers Formby losing, the result moved the Castlebrook based side out of the bottom two.

On Sunday, South Lakes visited Castlebrook and, once again, Bury dominated the game.

Sam Plant, Larmett and the returning Luke Fidler all had presentable chances, but the visiting keeper proved difficult to beat.

The second period followed the same pattern, with South Lakes only offering a sporadic threat on rare counter attacks. However, as Bury pushed for the breakthrough, the visitors were able to break and a far post tap-in gave the Cumbrians an unlikely lead.

Within 10 minutes, however, the home side levelled as South Lakes’ ill-discipline saw them reduced to 10 men.

From the following short corner, Sam Nicholson was able to turn the ball home and level the scores.

Immediately from the restart Bury won possession and broke forward quickly and a clever ball into the circle and an instinctive first-time finish from Nicholson gave Bury a deserved lead.

Larmett’s men were able to comfortably see out the game, securing what could be a vital three points in their battle for survival in Division Three.

The men’s second team produced a fine performance on Saturday as they crushed Prescot 5-0 at Castlebrook.

The visitors’ game plan of disrupting the flow of Bury’s attacking play paid dividends in a scrappy opening 15 minutes.

Once the game had settled down, though, Bury dominated, with Nicholson opening the scoring as he danced through the visiting defence and slotted the ball home past the static visiting keeper.

The second half saw Bury turn the screw as Chris Lowe doubled the home side’s advantage with a deft deflection which wrong-footed the keeper.

Jon Kitchen then lashed home a short corner for Bury’s third, before Nicholson grabbed his second with a fine piece of opportunism.

Having had his initial effort saved at close range, the midfielder instinctively reacted and produced a one-handed reverse finish to kill off any hopes of a Prescot comeback.

A Dave Matthews’ penalty stroke rounded off the scoring late on as the home side cruised to victory.

Promotion-chasing Stockport Bramhall put four goals past a weakened ladies' first team on Saturday, showing why they currently occupy second spot in the Division One table.

With a mid-table finish looking more than likely for Jennifer Matthews’ side, the team can be satisfied with their first season back in the top division.

New girl Juliet Janssen got off to the perfect start for Bury as she netted a hat-trick in a vital 3-2 win for the ladies’ second team against Stockport Bramhall seconds.

Boosted by the selection of Emma and Rachel Bailey the second team had the better of the first half, with Janssen netting shortly before the break as Bramhall only created one chance of note, which produced a fine save from Bethan Heatley.

The second half started well for the home side as Janssen again finished from close range following excellent support play from Lorna Wroe, however Bramhall were threatening more and missed a golden opportunity to get back into the game when Heatley saved a penalty stroke.

A third goal from Janssen seemed to have sealed the points, but a late comeback from the visitors saw them grab two goals and produce a nervous finish as they pushed the home side all the way to the final whistle.