Bury Town began their defence of the Suffolk Premier Cup with a resounding victory over Ryman Premier Division rivals Lowestoft, at Ram Meadow last night.

Richard Wilkins’ men had failed to win any of their previous seven home games, but they brought this depressing run to an abrupt end with a morale-boosting performance.

Inspired Bury raced into a two-goal lead inside the first 20 minutes, courtesy of a wonderful long-range strike by John Kennedy and an emphatic header from David Bridges.

Joe Whight’s opportunist free-kick made it 3-0 in the 39th minute, and even the dismissal of striker Shane Tolley just two minutes later failed to turn the tide in Lowestoft’s favour.

The visitors were unable to break-down 10-man Bury’s resolute defence in the second half and Jordan Patrick thumped home a fourth in the 83rd minute to complete the rout.

Kennedy broke the deadlock with a super strike on 11 minutes. Billy Clark’s initial shot was charged down, but the rebound rolled into the path of Kennedy, who curled a delightfully measured 20-yarder into the bottom corner of the net. It was a rare goal for the ex-Ipswich Town midfielder.

Bury doubled their lead in the 19th minute, thanks to a bullet header by Bridges. It was the ex-Chelmsford City midfielder’s fourth goal of the campaign.

Lowestoft just could not get going, and they duly leaked a third goal in the 39th minute. Whight’s long-range free-kick, from near the right touch-line, flew into the roof of the net past a dazed Will Viner, with fellow centre-half Tom Bullard in close attendance ready to head home.

But just two minutes later and the hosts were reduced to 10 men. Tolley caught Jack Ainsley with a late challenge and was flashed a straight red card by referee Carl Fitch.

Tolley now faces a three-match suspension, but his team-mates comfortably held out for the rest of the evening in what was a bad-tempered cup tie, sprinkled with bookings.

Lowestoft had been forced into a reshuffle after just nine minutes when centre-half Curtis Haynes-Brown hobbled off injured. Two minutes later and Bury took the lead, thanks to Kennedy’s clinical strike.

The visitors had a goal disallowed for offside just 60 seconds before Bridges nodded home Bury’s second.

Just after the half-hour mark, the lurking Tolley was close to sweeping home Ryan Semple’s low cross, with keeper Viner just managing to scramble the ball away.

Impressive Bury kept up the pressure and Viner had to launch himself to his left to claw away Clark’s goal-bound free-kick on 36 minutes.

Whight’s free-kick did notch up Bury’s third, but they were forced to play the whole of the second half with just 10 men, after Tolley was dismissed for a rash challenge on Jack Ainsley just four minutes before the interval.

Not surprisingly, it was one-way traffic in the second period with 10-man Bury content to soak up the pressure.

Marcus Garnham saved Chris Henderson’s looping header in the 55th minute, and then smothered a powder-puff shot by Rossi Jarvis on the hour mark. Even when Jack Ainsley managed to round keeper Garnham on 62 minutes, he could not slot home into an unguarded net, his shot cannoning back off the post.

Any hopes of a dramatic late Lowestoft rally were snuffed out by Patrick’s cracking strike to make it 4-0 on 83 minutes.