A composed performance gave Bury a deserved win in north Hampshire, but the omens did not look good when Basingstoke opened their account on four minutes.

Andy Hore broke downfield before supplying a simple pass to centre Freddie Gleadowe for an easy score out wide. Ryan Trevaskis missed the extras but kicked a penalty to make it 8-0, five minutes later.

The Bury scrum was struggling, but skipper Matt Eddison led a rearguard action that proved effective.

When a Bury turn-over allowed Tim Mann to kick to clear his lines, left-wing Chris Snelling won the race to the ball ahead of an absent-minded defence and his inside pass found Jamie Cooke, who completed the try. Rush missed the extras.

The remainder of the half saw both defences looking secure, despite conceding penalties that were missed.

Casey Stone then engineered a superb counter attack from the Bury 22 that almost saw Snelling touch down, but the hosts had the better of the latter stages.

Charlie Pask came on for the ineffective Rush at fly-half in the second half and Bury signalled their intentions by using the wind to kick deep into Basingstoke territory.

The line-out worked superbly all day, often stealing opposition throw-ins and, four minutes in, took the lead from one such turn over.

Good hands engineered the space for Snelling, off his own wing, to make the overlap and score in the corner. The difficult conversion missed it now stood at 10-8.

Again Bury stole a line out and scrum-half Codey Mason managed to get the ball to Dan Garrad.

The youngster’s burst of speed terrified his would-be defenders and made 40 metres in the process. Oskar Lechnar and Aaron Waters combined well at the line out and Pask dummied and dived over from 10 metres.

The opening 10 minutes of the half had seen Bury score twice, and the complexion of the match had changed dramatically.

The mid-point of the half saw Tim Mann sent to the sin bin for kicking the ball away after a penalty award to Basingtoke.

The last 10 minutes saw Basingstoke becoming more desperate in attack, thus exposing themselves to Bury‘s dangerous counter attacks. The visitors were awarded a penalty 30 metres out that Paske duly converted for a 20–8 lead.

Bury’s habit of conceding last-minute tries afflicted them again when on 38 minutes Basingstoke skipper Freddie Gleadowe arced his way across field and, for once the Bury defence stood back, allowing him to score in the corner and earn a losing bonus point for his side.

Pictures courtesy of Shawn Pearce