BURY Broncos' coach Dave Kelly says his side have still not clicked into gear after they almost let Chorley Panthers off the hook before claiming an 18-16 win on Saturday.

The Broncos, who play their home matches at Philips High School in Whitefield, were forced to send out a patched-up side, with Adbou Radwan playing the whole match despite being injured in the warm-up.

He showed great spirit to run in two tries, including a decisive late score, after the visitors had fought their way back from 14-0 down to close to within four points.

Kelly said: "At times we played some really good football and there is no doubt about the ability in the squad, but we must learn to play smarter. This should have been a 20-point win.

"But they say the sign of a good team is to play badly and win and this was a very valuable two points against opponents who had won their previous two games.

"I've every confidence the team will be up for next week at Bold Miners, and that soon things will start to click."

Broncos' second victory of the North West Men's League Division Two campaign moved them up to fifth, one place below the Panthers but level on points and with a game in hand.

Four members of the team made their first appearance of the season, including Simon Palin, who was drafted in at short notice, while Mike Carter took time out from moving home to play and Brendan Berry featured despite suffering from jet lag after flying in from Australia.

With Radwan hobbling through the pain of a leg muscle injury, the Broncos could have been forgiven for a sluggish start, made worse after Joe Wilkinson limped off after just five minutes.

But they seized control of the game after opening the scoring on 20 minutes.

Hooker Adam Grundy made a great break and he was backed up by Sean Kelly, who ran the ball in under the posts and Blake Roberts kicked the extras.

Kelly then set up Liam Sixsmith to score with a neat inside ball before Radwan added a try out wide.

Chorley had barely threatened before back-to-back penalties helped them force the Broncos back to their own line and after a few attempts they muscled over from short range to make it 14-4 at half time.

The second half began badly for Bury when some good off-loading from Chorley opened up their defence and they scored under the posts.

Broncos had to dig deep to keep the visitors at bay before Kelly took the pressure off with a late break that left Chorley short of numbers and good hands from Ross Smith and Roberts put in Radwan.

The visitors managed to pull back to within two points with a converted try at the death, but their was no time for them to go for the win.

"It was a below-par performance, but a win is a win," added Dave Kelly.

"Thanks should go to the players who came in at short notice.

"There were also strong performances from Abdou Radwan, Chris Sloan, Ross Smith, Blake Roberts and Sean Kelly, but my man of the match would go to Ashley Warne who, on his debut, topped the tackle and carry count."

The Broncos' second string were unable to make it a perfect weekend, going down 46-8 at Aspull New Springs in Division Five.