A NEW year brought with it a familiar feeling for Bury fans as they suffered a seventh straight away league defeat to Fleetwood.

Leon Clarke and Scott Burgess missed key chances in the first period and the Shakers were made to pay when Ashley Hunter opened the scoring for the hosts four minutes after the restart.

Bobby Grant doubled the lead 12 minutes from time, turning in Antoni Sarcevic's cross but the scoreline could have been a lot worse had Jamie Proctor not missed three glorious opportunities.

David Flitcroft promised to shake things up following the defeat at Port Vale and he did that with four changes, switching to a 4-1-4-1 formation.

In came Anthony Dudley for his first start in a Bury shirt, while fellow teenager Scott Burgess and Reece Brown also entered the frame.

Andrew Tutte made a welcome return from a long-term hamstring injury to replace Danny Pugh in the centre of midfield while Joe Riley and Kelvin Etuhu were missing from the squad and striker Tom Pope dropped to the bench.

Bury rode their luck in the early exchanges as Grant's long-range effort looked to have caught Daniel Bachmann out of goal but a fortuitous deflection sent it wide.

Captain Nathan Cameron led by example when he made a last-ditch tackle to deny Proctor a free shot on goal eight minutes in, before the skipper blocked another Proctor effort a minute later, this time to stop the ball two-yards out.

The Shakers' first chance arrived when Craig Jones sent Burgess bursting down the right, he got to the byline and cut it back to Leon Clarke, who drilled it wide of the near post.

But it was the hosts who kept up the pressure and Nathan Pond came a lick of paint away from giving Fleetwood the lead when he looped a header from a corner on to the top of the crossbar in the 20th minute.

The visitors stepped up a gear after that miss and created chances themselves.

Danny Mayor stepped away from two tackles on the edge of the box before lashing over and Leon Clarke's header was kept out by a smart save from Chris Maxwell down to his left.

Maxwell was called into action again moments later when Burgess was sent through on goal by Tutte but was denied by a splendid finger-tip save down to the keeper's left.

On the stroke of half-time Antoni Sarcevic rose the highest to power a headed narrowly past the post.

But four minutes after the restart the Cod Army netted their opener.

Hunter raced on to a ball over the top and drilled it low into the bottom left-hand corner.

Chris Eagles, making his first appearance in four weeks, was called upon to change the game from the substitutes' bench in the 54th minute in place of Dudley.

And Danny Rose entered the frame in place of Tutte with 20 minutes to go.

Both players did little to inspire a fightback and the hosts went on to double their lead in the 78th minute when Grant prodded in Sarcevic's low cross from the left.

Rose created himself a half-chance seven minutes from time but sent a tame volley straight down the throat of Maxwell.

Fleetwood had the final say of the match when substitute Tyler Forbes burst down the left through on goal but Bachmann denied him with a smart one-handed save down to his left.