WINS proved to be like buses for Bury over the festive period as David Flitcroft’s side followed up their victory at Northampton with a comfortable three points at home to Mansfield.

The Shakers ended a run of nine games without a win at Sixfields on Boxing Day and always looked like following that up with a dominant performance against the Stags.

Goals in each half from Ryan Lowe and Danny Mayor were enough to secure a well-deserved victory and helped Bury end 2014 on the cusp of the play-off places.

The game did not start off too well for Bury’s new captain Nathan Cameron, who was clattered in the opening minute by his own team-mate, Kelvin Etuhu, after the pair went up for a header.

Cameron spent more than five minutes on the deck receiving attention to a head wound, but that was the most action the centre-back saw in an opening 45 minutes dominated by the home team.

Flitcroft’s side looked to be back to their old selves, despite struggling to translate early possession into meaningful chances on what was a frosty pitch.

But the Shakers slowly came to the boil on a bitterly cold afternoon, with veteran striker Ryan Lowe having the first shot on target in the 20th minute, turning sharply in the box to test Mansfield goalkeeper Dimitar Evmitov.

The 36-year-old forward then broke clear on to a deflected Chris Hussey pass but could not muster up enough power as he prodded the ball towards goal.

The Stags stopper showed his frailty after fumbling a high Mayor cross into the box and was a mere bystander as Andrew Tutte fired a shot just wide of the far post a minute later.

Lowe finally broke the deadlock on 40 minutes, slotting home from close range after following up a dipping long-range effort from Hallam Hope that Evmitov spilled into his path.

Mansfield threatened for the first time in the match just after the break when Simon Heslop fired over a Junior Brown pull-back from eight yards when completely unmarked.

Brown then volleyed over the bar on the turn, his chance coming while Cameron was off the pitch receiving attention to the head wound he sustained in the opening minute.

The skipper was unable to continue, with previous captain Jim McNulty replacing him for the final 15 minutes.

But any concerns were eased on 78 minutes, when Mayor skipped inside from the left flank and beat his man before unleashing a shot into the bottom corner from just inside the box.

And while Shakers stopper Rob Lainton was forced to produce a diving save late in the game to keep out a deflected shot from Brown, the visitors never looked like forcing their way back into the game.

Bury’s first back-to-back wins in the league since September saw them climb one place to eighth in the table but, more importantly, bridged the three-point gap to the play-off places.

BURY: Lainton 7; Soares 6, Cameron 8 (McNulty 6 74), El-Abd 7, Hussey 7; Adams 7, Tutte 8, Etuhu 7, Mayor 8; Hope 7 (Rose 7 60), Lowe 8.

Subs: Jones, Sedgwick, Burgess, Ruddy, Dudley.

MANSFIELD ROWN: Evtimov; Beevers (Rhead 67), Sutton, Riley, Waterfall, Freeman; McGuire, Heslop; Bingham (Thompson-Lambe 60), Oliver (Palmer 79), Brown.

Subs: Studer, Bell, Fletcher, Clements.

Referee: Richard Clark.

Attendance: 3,296 (276 visiting).