Bury 4-1 Morecambe

Two second half-goals from Tom Pope and a header from Antony Kay gave Bury the points over a much-changed Shrimps’ side.

Jim Bentley’s team got off to the worst possible start as they went a goal down after two minutes with Bury taking the lead from the penalty spot.

Anthony Dudley was bundled over on the edge of the Morecambe box and after a moment’s hesitation the referee pointed to the spot with Zeli Ismail sending debutant keeper Dan Nizic the wrong way.

The Shrimps did come back strongly and created some good openings but showed a lack of composure in front of goal.

Paul Mullin twice tried his luck from distance before Rhys Turner missed a golden opportunity to level the scores on 21 minutes.

The striker received the ball unmarked on the edge of the area but with time on his hands blazed a shot well over the bar when he should have done much better.

Bury threatened themselves with Ismail a constant threat down the right, teeing up Pope with a sweet cross which the striker headed into Nizic’s hands.

The Australian stopper was then forced into action again with a smart save low to his left from Danny Mayor’s right foot curler before producing another flying block to tip away Tom Soares’ stinging shot from distance.

Nizic was rewarded for his saves as Morecambe levelled on 43 minutes when Mullin tried his luck from 25 yards and clipped an unstoppable shot past Ben Williams and into the top left-hand corner of the Bury goal.

Unfortunately the Shrimps were not level for long as Bury regained the lead four minutes after the break.

Andy Fleming gave the ball away in midfield and Mayor took advantage with a cross into the area for Pope to flick a header past Nizic from six yards.

Bury then took control with Soares again denied by a flying Nizic save with a shot from 25 yards before Mayor drilled a low effort wide of the right-hand post from the edge of the area.

Morecambe struggled to gain possession but did create one golden opportunity for Mullin on the hour but he snatched at an effort when found unmarked eight yards out and the chance went begging.

The Shrimps had to thank Nizic again with another excellent save to deny Dudley on 75 minutes and then Soares again before Kay sealed the victory with a bullet header from a right-wing corner.

The game ended on a positive for the Shrimps with Jack Dunn forcing Williams into a good save and hitting the post before captain Peter Murphy was introduced for his first performance since picking up a ligament injury at Wycombe in January.

But it was Bury who had the final say when Pope added his second of the game when played in down the left-hand side before poking the ball past Nizic.

Bury: Williams, Jones (Maher 53), Kay, Barnett, Leigh, Ismail (Hope 64), Mellis, Soares, Mayor (Obi 84), Pope, Dudley. Subs not used: Burgess, Rachubka, Bedeau, Harker.

Booked: Kay.

Morecambe: Nizic, Wakefield (Dunn 71), Edwards, Whitmore, McGowan, Fleming (Murphy 83), Kenyon, Mullin, Ellison (Barkhuizen 59), Molyneux, Turner. Subs not used: Roche, Stockton, Rose, Hedley.

Booked: Mullin, Wakefield.

Referee: R Jones

Attendance: 1,154 (117 away fans)