Alex Cherera put in a man of the match performance scoring a brace as Bury outclassed the visiting Cheadle Town on Bank Holiday Monday.

The third match Bury’s senior men’s team have played on Gigg Lane in just six days saw a quick turnaround of players with many omitted from the recent FA Vase tie recalled to the starting lineup.

Bury started the match brightly Bebeto Gomes bursting down the wing got in behind the Cheadle defence but his pass into the box was intercepted just before it reached Ruben Jerome. In response the visitors hit Bury on the counterattack, winger Oghenero Orhenomare broke down the Bury left and from a tight angle forced a good save from Bury stopper Tom Stewart before firing another shot that flashed across the Bury goal.

Bury took the lead on 14 minutes when a lofted throughball from Cameron Fogerty was met by Alex Cherera who outpaced the Cheadle defence and confidently placed a shot beyond keeper James Hodges into the bottom corner of the net.

Bury took control of the match, Cheadle’s earlier chance became the lone highlight for an away side that were reduced to long hopeful efforts easily thwarted away. At the other end Rustam Stepans, Bryan Ly and Cherera continued to harass their opponents. A Stepans cross just missed a final finish while Ly shot into the side netting. Cherera might have grabbed a second when Gaz Peet stole the ball away deep in the Cheadle half but his shot was straight at Hodges.

Bury might have been frustrated by the still slender lead but they doubled their advantage before halftime. On the counterattack Ly slid a pass forward to Stepans who brought the ball to the edge of the Cheadle box. Marked by two defenders he squared the ball to the open and unnoticed Jerome who finished easily, the ball bouncing in off the post.

It could have been 3-0 before the break as another Bury attack soon after saw a hopeful lobbed cross into the Cheadle penalty area. Cherera got a foot to the ball, whipped around and through a sea of players squeezed out a shot that hit the post.

The story was no different in the second half. Cherera latching onto another Fogerty pass unleashed a shot that beat the keeper but just missed the target. Cherera then had the ball in the net, finishing well from a long ball from Lewis Earl, but the linesman’s flag nullified the chance much to the outrage of those fans inline with Cherera who believed he was comfortably onside.

Those disappointments soon gave way. Gomes again broke through on the right hand side and his cross found Cherera at the far post who had an easy finish for his second and Bury’s third goal of the day.

Bury continued to keep the Cheadle attack at bay with a free kick directed straight into Stewart’s arms the only real concern of the second half.

The rest of the match was spent in the Shakers search for a fourth goal. Despite his efforts Cherera could not complete his second hattrick of the season. Bury might have had a penalty, a Stepans shot looked to have come off a Cheadle hand in the penalty box but the referee waved away the protests and instead awarded a corner.

The only disappointment in the second half came when Bury captain Macauley Wilson appeared to suffer a late injury. Despite this Bury saw out the match keeping another clean sheet and completing one of their more comfortable victories of the season so far.