A poor opening 10 minutes cost under-strength Bury on Saturday as they mounted a spirited, but ultimately futile, comeback against Didsbury at Castlebrook.

With James Dillon, Piers Smith-Hughes, Rob Bradburn, and Chris McManus all missing, youngsters Siraj Raza and Daniel Balding were once again called up into the first team.

Some slack marking from the Bury defence allowed the visitors to take the lead.

Moments later, Didsbury had doubled their lead, as a short corner was only half cleared and the resulting rebound was scrambled home.

Things could have been much worse for Bury, but keeper Jonny Howard produced a fantastic diving save and also kept out a penalty stroke, as Bury were lucky to go in only 2-0 down at the break.

Bury found their passing range in the second half and looked much stronger defensively.

Almost the entire half was spent in Didsbury territory as Bury pressed to get back in the game, creating at least 12 short-corner opportunities.

James Oakes managed to convert one of these to give the home side hope, but a combination of good goalkeeping and poor final passing meant Bury came up short in their search for an equaliser.