BURY made another impressive statement to the rest of League Two with a crushing victory over fellow high-fliers Dagenham and Redbridge.

Goals from Stephen Dawson, Michael Jones and Elliott Bennett sealed the victory for the Shakers and put to bed any worries that Alan Knill's side would collapse after losing their own unbeaten record to Exeter City last weekend.

An injury-time consolation goal from Sam Saunders snatched away a well deserved clean sheet for keeper Wayne Brown, but, overall, manager Knill was happy with the result.

“It was a great result, but not the greatest game of football you will ever see,” said Knill.

“Even though we were 2-0 up at half-time, I was really disappointed with the first-half performance. I don't think we were particularly good and I think the lead can cover a lot of frailties in your team. Thankfully our goalkeeper was on top form and kept us in it.

“However, this is one of the hardest places to visit in this league and to come away with a 3-1 win is a great result.”

The visitors did have to weather lots of early pressure from their high-flying hosts, who were second in the league before the game, but they took their chances when they came and sent their travelling supporters home with a massive smile on their faces.

Dawson opened the scoring in the 32nd minute when he punished the Dagenham and Redbridge defenders for failing to deal with a simple ball into the box.

The Daggers defenders made a complete hash of clearing their lines, and the ball fell to Andy Bishop, who fed Dawson to chip the keeper and register his first goal for the club.

The home side were still stunned by this when, five minutes later, Michael Jones tried his luck from 25 yards and saw his shot dip under the crossbar and past keeper Tony Roberts. That was also Jones' first goal for the Gigg Lane outfit.

Bury had been kept in the game until this point thanks to some quality Wayne Brown saves that denied Ben Strevens and Peter Gain. That was all before Strevens completely fluffed his lines on the stroke of half-time.

The all-action midfielder saw a cross from the right land at his feet in the six-yard area, but the former Barnet and Crawley star got the ball stuck under his feet and shot tamely at Brown.

Jones had the first real opportunity of the second half on the hour mark when his deflected shot hit the post after he had been teed up by Elliott Bennett.

At the other end, David Buchanan made a goal-saving tackle on substitute Mark Nwokeji to preserve Bury's lead and make sure there was to be no repeat of the three-goal comeback that the Shakers were on the wrong end of in their last away trip at Aldershot.

Dagenham were having most of the possession, but Bury were looking dangerous on the counter-attack and Bishop could have scored when he fashioned room to shoot, only to see Roberts make a good save.

Bennett made no mistake four minutes later when he drilled the ball into the back off the net after being fed by new signing Chris O'Grady, who looked impressive when he came on as a second-half substitute.

Saunders curled home from the edge of the area to give the Daggers' fans something to about, but it was the 320-strong Bury contingent that left the ground the happiest, safe in the knowledge that the Shakers had picked up another valuable three points.

DAGENHAM: Roberts 5, Okuonghae 5, Ritchie 6 (Southam 6, 72), Saunders 7, Griffiths 6, Benson 6 (Nwokeji 6, 54), Strevens 6, Foster 6, Taiwo 6, Gain 7, Arber 7. Subs not used: Thompson, Southam, Nurse, Uddin.

BURY: Brown 8, Scott 7, Futcher 7, Sodje 7, Buchanan 8, Bennett 7, Dawson 8, Barry-Murphy 7, Jones 7, Morrell 7 (O'Grady 7, 68), Bishop 7 (Hurst 7, 85). Subs not used: Baker, Haslam, Hurst, Racchi.

Attendance: 2,364 (320 Bury fans)

Referee: Carl Sarginson