BURY hosted mid-table Colne and Nelson at Radcliffe Road this week needing a win and other results to go their way in order to secure promotion.

Bury looked nervous at times in the opening exchanges and it took a Adam Heath penalty to settle the home side down.

As the Bury pack began to dominate, Ed Watkins scored the opening try of the game, picking the ball up from the base of a scrum, evading the chasing defence and touching down. Captain Jonny Allen dived over for the second try soon after following good work from Dan Walsh.

Bury added two more tries in the first half through George Kelly and Alex English. Colne and Nelson hit back with two of their own to leave Bury well placed for a bonus point win at half time.

The talking point of the first half was a fight which culminated in two red cards which left both sides with 14 men.

Bury stretched their lead in the second half with an excellent team try. A scrum on the right flank was worked out through the hands to Callum Paton on the opposite wing who dived over in the corner. Bury were held up over the line on two further occasions before hooker Alan Dobson intercepted just inside the opposition half and managed to elude the chasing defence, diving over under the posts.

Bury rung the changes to freshen things up and welcomed some young colts players into the side. But it was a player returning from injury who managed to add to the scoreline. James Swinburn had only been on the pitch a matter of seconds when Ed Watkins collected a Bury kick off, and fast hands allowed Swinburn to crash through the defence and score in the corner. Swinburn was to add to his tally after being gifted a try as Bury ran out 56-17 winners.

The result gave Bury hope of promotion but unfortunately for them Eagle beat Old Bedians to secure the point they needed to take the final promotion spot.