Bury recorded a win in their first away match of the season thanks to first-half goals from Andy Briggs, Benito Lowe and Darius Palma.

Manager Andy Welsh named an unchanged starting eleven from the side that won convincingly at home at the weekend and in the opening stages Bury looked just as impressive in attack as they had in the opening day win over Glossop.

The home side playing uphill and with the sun in their eyes for the opening exchanges of the match struggled to contain the Shakers, only a diving block prevented Saj Elhassan opening the scoring.

Bury would come close again, with chances for both frontmen, but it was Briggs who opened the scoring midway through the half. Colne keeper Thomas Goodwin pawed away a cross he might have been better leaving, the ball fell kindly to Chris Rowney who crossed to Briggs to turn into an open goal.

Bury maintained their slender lead until first-half stoppage time when a well-timed through ball by Elhassan unlocked the Colne defence and Lowe slipped the ball past the onrushing Goodwin and passed the ball into the empty net. The Shakers weren’t done yet though, two minutes of added time later another incisive pass by Elhassan found Palma who fired home his first Bury goal and gave the away side a comfortable 3-0 lead at the break.

The second half was a far more attritional affair with Bury struggling to break down a more determined Colne who now held the higher ground.

Some nerves may have been rattling when Colne captain Owen Watkinson slammed home a goal on the hour after a good passage of play stretched the Bury defence.

One who seemed to maintain nerves of steel was keeper Jack Atkinson who with ten minutes left made a crucial point-blank save from a Watkinson bullet header that could have sparked a grandstand finish. As it was Bury saw out what proved to be a comfortable win on the road.