Bury fans were given the perfect Christmas present as they enjoyed a five-star performance from the Shakers that saw them supplant opponents Chadderton at the top of the table.

Played away at the Vestacare Stadium, home of Avro FC, on Friday night the Shakers had named a few changes to the lineup. Gaz Peet and DJ Pedro returned to the starting eleven whilst new signing Courtney Meppen-Walter made an immediate start in the heart of the Bury defence.

While the opening minutes passed with little incident as two of the better clubs in the division sized one another up it was Bury that struck first. A Bury corner was sent to the far post, the ball was headed back across goal but no man in white could get on the end of it. A cross that followed was met with a wild clearance from a Chadderton defender who knocked the ball out for another corner. This time Nicky Adams’ set piece fell perfectly to DJ Pedro who buried his chance from close range to give the Shakers the lead.

The away side were certainly up for the match testing the Chadderton defence whenever they could. Bryan Ly tried his luck from just inside the half spotting Chadderton keeper Morgan Bacon out of goal. His shot curled wide harmlessly away from goal. Pedro did well to win a high ball over the top against his marker. He got to the byline and pulled the ball back to Ly who shot wide of goal.

Chadderton had barely been at the races and only took their first shot of the match through Rob Worrall who pounced on a misplaced defensive header but put his shot well wide. It was merely a warning shot however as minutes later Worrall set up Lewis-Simon Byrne who danced his way through the defence and beat Allen one-on-one to level the sides.

Bury quickly claimed their lead back winning a free-kick just outside the box from the tightest of angles after Pedro was hacked down. From the set piece Ly set up Pedro to sweep home his second of the night.

The onslaught from the Shakers never wavered. Rustam Stepans tried a long-range shot that zipped just over the bar while a Bebeto Gomes cross was just a little too high for Pedro but fell to Ly at the far post, his volley cleared the crossbar.

With half-time fast approaching Bury won a late corner and with the last meaningful touch of the ball Pedro headed home in a crowded box to complete a great first-half hat-trick. Pedro was certainly the standout player and not just for the goals. He lead the line exceptionally well, was winning every high ball sent his way, and was a constant danger to the Chadderton defence.

Pedro nearly turned provider early in the second half sending a cross that found Ly but Bury the diminutive midfielder was unable to put any power behind his header.

The hosts with quite some work to do to get back into the match tested the Bury defence first with a Byrne free-kick that sailed straight through the wall but was saved and well held by Allen. A Chadderton corner caused a scramble in the box as Peet blocked a shot and Cam Fogerty cleared an effort off the line but Bury did enough to clear.

Afforded too much space Worrall grabbed a goal back striking a mighty effort that Allen got a block to but couldn’t prevent the rebound striking the bar and bouncing in.

Faced with a possible comeback Bury didn’t wait long to respond. Pedro broke into the box and blasted a shot that beat Bacon at the near post for his and Bury’s fourth goal of the night. With that Chadderton’s resistance took a hit and never truly looked likely to score again.

At the other end, Bury had the ball in the back of the net once more but Meppen-Walter’s debut goal was immediately ruled out for a foul in the box ahead of the corner kick.

There were calls for a penalty kick for Chadderton as Sutcliffe went down in the penalty box but the referee waved away the appeals. Those appeals quickly turned to complaints from a frustrated side that clearly had higher hopes for this fixture. Worrall was sin-binned and Chadderton were reduced to ten men for the next ten minutes.

By now time was running short and Bury were content to run down the clock and play to the corners but star man DJ Pedro saw another chance. Chasing a long ball that seemed destined to run out of play he got in ahead of defender Jack Kenny, keeping the ball in play and getting on the wrong side of the Chadderton man. Kenny brought Pedro down in the penalty area and the referee pointed to the spot. Bryan Ly who had worked hard and produced a lot on the night grabbed the goal his efforts deserved sending Bacon the wrong way and streaked across to celebrate with the Bury fans behind the goal.

Full-time sounded handing Bury a crucial victory in the context of the season but also a heartening performance after a difficult run of form for the Shakers. If Dave McNabb’s side can repeat this type of performance every week then Bury fans can also look forward to a very happy new year as well.