Remi Garrett’s brace preserved Bury Town’s unbeaten league record at Ram Meadow this season in a welcome 2-1 win for the Blues last night.

Garrett was at his lethal best in the 25th and then the 41st minute in a morale-boosting victory for the home side, lifting them out of the bottom four and into 17th position in the Ryman Premier Division.

The opening exchanges were frenetic, and after Bury’s Joe Whight cleared Steve Sheehan’s goalbound header from under his own crossbar, the visitors should really have made the most of a three-on-one situation but Nathan Ferguson wasted his cross with a pair of frustrated Billericay attackers waiting for a tap in.

Ben Chenery’s men fought back though, and after a fine flowing move started by Garrett, involving Kye Ruel and Steve Holder, Whight’s twinkletoes inside the box couldn’t quite result in an end product.

Bury, who gave a debut to Ipswich Town loan signing Jack Willbye, then received a major let-off moments later when Marcus Garnham’s clearance, following a short back-pass from Callum Bennett, ricocheted off Ferguson dangerously towards the Bury goal, but the stopper recovered in time to catch on the goal-line.

Garnham then proved his worth soon after as he did brilliantly to turn Seedy Njie’s vicious effort onto the post after Nathan Clarke mis-timed a header on the half-way line. Bennett also worked wonders with a saving tackle in the aftermath.

The Blues had ridden their luck slightly, but they punished Billericay in the 25th minute when Garrett scored his first goal for the club since moving from Ipswich Wanderers in the summer, with a deft flick from Whight’s precise free-kick.

The source of the goal might go down to the dubious goal committee after appearing to take a deflection off a defender en-route to goal but Chenery and Bury didn’t care – goals were just they needed after scoring just four before kick-off, the lowest in the division.

If there was any doubt about Garrett’s rather scrappy first, there was certainly no doubt about his second as, following another Whight delivery, the striker let fly with an outrageous chest and volley on the angle from 12 yards that flew into the top corner – an unstoppable strike.

Sheehan hit the bar for Billericay, and Ferguson had a goal ruled out for offside, although there was debate as to whether he got a touch, for the visitors in a breathtaking half full of exciting and fast-paced football.

The second half was anything but as Bury ground out the result.

Garrett came off to a round of applause in the 71st minute following a back niggle, but his work – and Bury’s work was largely done on a fine night for the Blues, despite substitute Ricky Sappleton grabbing one back for Billericay deep into injury time.

Teams:

Bury: Garnham, Bennett, Whight, Clarke, Hall, Kennedy, Short, Ruel, Holder (Weavers), Willbye (Mari), Garrett (Brame). Unused subs: Smith, Sousa.

Billericay: Lumley, O’Hanlon, Shaw, Halle, Sheehan, Edwards, Poole, Ferguson (Imudia), Appiah, Liburd (Taylor-Crossdale), Njie (Sappleton). Unused subs: Benjamin, Godwin-Green.

Attendance: 252.

Referee: Mr. Ian Bentley.

Elsewhere, our other Suffolk teams also enjoyed success last night. AFC Sudbury claimed a 3-2 win at Heybridge Swifts in a topsy-turvy match with Ryan Hervel, Ayrton Coley, and James Baker all on target for David Batch’s men with the result lifting them to sixth in the Ryman North.

Needham Market meanwhile carried on from Saturday’s excellent victory with another triumph - this time over Soham Town Rangers. Rangers took the lead after just two minutes but Sam Newson’s brace, as well as a late goal from Luke Ingram, sealed the win for Needham in a 3-1 success to keep them at top of the pile in the Ryman North Division.