Bury delivered a stunning victory over Longridge Town winning 8-0 at Gigg Lane. Six Shakers got on the scoresheet in an all-round imperious performance.

In the visiting line-up, former Bury youth team graduate Joe Adams returned to Gigg Lane as part of the Longridge starting eleven. On Bury’s side regular starters Gaz Peet and Ruben Jerome started on the bench while Lewis Alessandra was preferred to Bryan Ly.

Alessandra repaid the faith shown in him early with a fine shot blocked by Ridge keeper James Rogerson. DJ Pedro and Alex Cherera missed chances to claim the rebound but Longridge couldn’t clear their lines. The ball was worked out to the right and full-back Bebeto Gomes saw his cross turned into the net by Longridge defender Connor Newton.

The visitors worked hard to find a swift response. Earlier in the match, Liam Atkinson had a shot over the bar after a good ball in by Adams. This time Adams tried a chance of his own curling a shot that brushed the roof of the net. But Bury struck again, centre-back Lewis Earl connecting to a corner at the far post. His header made its way into the goal doubling the Shakers' lead.

The second goal was a watershed moment as from there the hosts ran away with the match ending it as a contest. Assistant manager Tim Lees had lamented in the week about Bury failing to capitalise on chances. Before today Bury had only scored 9 times in the opening 30 minutes of all their matches so far this season. They quickly scored their third goal in the opening 30 minutes of this match thanks to top scorer Rustam Stepans. Beating the offside trap he cut inside and left one-on-one with the keeper he picked his spot and scored into the far bottom corner.

In no time it was 4-0 to Bury. Cam Fogerty intercepted a pass across the defence and played in Pedro to shoot on goal. While Rogerson got a hand to the ball he couldn’t prevent Bury from taking a commanding lead.

Alessandra could have made it five before half-time with a header from a deep cross. He directed the chance on target but Rogerson scrambled to make the save. The overworked keeper had no chance minutes later when Pedro played in Gomes clear in front of goal to score the fifth goal of the match.

The away side made a triple substitution at the break and made two more changes by the hour but never troubled the Shakers' backline in the second half. Instead, it was a long siege from the Shakers who knew another goal would cement their lead and likely end any lingering resilience in their opponents.

Bebeto Gomes intercepted a pass and set Pedro loose. His shot blazed across goal just missing the far corner. Pedro didn’t have to wait long for another chance, however. Again a cross from the right, this time Stepans, found Pedro in the perfect place to tap home from close range.

Alex Cherera ought to have scored Bury’s next goal. Pedro won the ball well, dragged players out of position, pulling the ball back to Cherera who blasted a shot over the bar. Cherera later sent a cross from the left that found Stepans. His volley was well saved by Rogerson. Gomes under pressure from a defender was then seen to fall in the penalty area, the referee was not impressed booking the Bury full-back who picked up his fifth yellow of the season.

Cherera had another shot clear the bar while Alessandra had a great solo run and shot foiled by a great save by Rogerson. Bury were pushing for their next goal and wouldn’t be denied.

At last, Cherera found the goal his efforts deserved, played in by Alessandra his shot beat Rogerson at the near post to grab Bury’s seventh in the 77th minute.

The Shakers never sat back and always chased the next goal. The onslaught continued into the closing minutes. Substitute Bryan Ly attempted a shot from miles out that Rogerson caught while from a corner a Longridge defender volleyed the ball against his own bar and Gomes somehow headed the rebound over from very close range.

Ruben Jerome, on as a substitute, then took control, first seeing a shot that narrowly missed the bottom corner with Rogerson well beaten. In the 90th minute, Jerome showed his strength to steal the ball away from a defender and curled a shot to the bottom corner to grab his tenth goal of the season and Bury’s final one of the afternoon.

It was a complete victory for the Shakers and their largest margin of victory of the season so far. The fact they could and perhaps should have scored even more is a testament to how dominant they were.