THE Broncos slipped to fourth place in NWMRL Division Three when their play-off rivals Orrell St James inflicted a third consecutive defeat on them.

Tries from Ant Garside and a double from Blake Roberts were not enough for Bury who fought well but could not hold out the second-placed visitors in the second half.

The Broncos started well Orrell scored on their first set in Bury territory for an early 6-0 advantage.

They responded well though with the forwards making big yards and from the last play of their set a looping pass from Mike Garside found its way to full-back Roberts who sped through the smallest of gaps to cut the deficit to two points.

Orrell restored their six-point lead with a second try try but Bury rallied again and from a counter-attack prop Chris Lynch drove the ball in hard, before twisting and offloading to the supporting Garside who run under the posts for a converted try that levelled the scores.

Then, just when it appeared the teams would go in level at half time a moment of brilliance gave Bury the lead for the first time.

On the last set of the half scrum-half Chris Ready chipped the ball over for Roberts to gathered before rounding the full-back for his second try of the afternoon and a 16-10 half- time lead.

Bury scored the first points after the restart when Roberts landed a penalty but they could not hold the advantage and two tries brought Orrell level with 15 minutes to go.

And the winning score came five minutes later as the Broncos’ defence tired.

Bury will look to get back on track a week on Saturday when they take on local rivals Little Hulton Reds.