It was the proverbial game of two halves at Gigg Lane where Bury turned a 2-1 deficit at half-time into a 4-2 victory.

The Shakers welcomed a new face to the club with the arrival of Oliver Jepson, son of Ronnie, who joined from Kidsgrove Athletic. Andy Briggs was also recalled to the starting eleven with Jimmy Moore and Lewis Gilboy dropping to the bench.

Bury got off to a bad start, in only the fifth minute Dan Lafferty brought down William Dunne who had got in behind the defence and a penalty was awarded. Dunne stepped up himself and while Jack Atkinson got something on it he couldn’t prevent Litherland taking the lead.

The home side soon responded. Coming to the end of a minute’s applause in memory of Isla Hutton a deep free kick was sent into the REMY box. It was met by a soaring Oli Jepson who followed in his father’s footsteps by scoring on his Bury debut.

The Shakers defence did not hold out for long. Rowney was caught in possession and gave the ball away cheaply. Oliver Nugent took full advantage slotting into the bottom corner to regain the lead for the Sefton side.

The rest of the half was hard going for Bury. Frequently put on their heels by the direct and fearless attack from Litherland the deficit could have been greater with Nathan Corness and Elliot Taylor both spurning good chances to extend their lead. It was hard work for Bury to create opportunities at the other end though they could have equalised before the break with Briggs and Comber both going close.

A few home truths were told over the half-time team talk and with a double substitution to add Jimmy Moore and Shakeel Jones-Griffiths the defence performed much better in the second half.

Up-front there was a lot of energy from the Shakers but the end result was elusive. Lowe had a header placed just wide and Andy Scarisbrick on his home debut fired a shot from the edge of the box wide of the mark. The pressure eventually told however with a Benito header from a Chris Rowney cross finding the back of the net.

With the equaliser the home side found their shooting boots. Only a couple of minutes later Rowney was upended and the referee pointed to the spot. Benito found the bottom corner to give Bury the lead for the first time. Lowe nearly completed what would have been an 8-minute hattrick, unfortunately his curled shot from the left-hand side drifted just wide.

When a Jones-Griffiths’ shot from miles out zipped over the REMY bar the hosts underlined the change in attitude in the second half. The attacking impetus was all Bury, the Shakers were fully on the attack and searching for more. Every ball slipped forward to Lowe was met with a roar of “C’mon!” from the stands.

Late on a quick counter-attack from Gilboy to Scarisbrick led to a cross to Lenehan that was tipped over by REMY keeper Jack Reynolds. However, the visitors failed to clear the resulting corner and the ball fell kindly to Comber who fired from outside the box into the top corner to score the pick of the goals for the evening.

Bury could have scored even more, a Jordi Nsaka shot flashed across the REMYCA goal in stoppage time but Bury could be content with four goals scored and a return to the top of the table.