A YOUTHFUL looking Bury side gave their supporters a glimpse into the future with an assured victory in the annual pre-season friendly at the Inn2gether Stadium.

It is hard to glean too much from Tuesday night's game, but the confident performances of Jordan Stepien, Dale Stephens and Andy Parrish will have given Shakers manager Chris Casper some food for thought ahead of the new campaign.

Bury were the better side throughout, with David Buchanan and new signing Andy Mangan both testing Boro keeper Tim Dittmer before the only goal of the game came on 17 minutes.

A speculative ball over the top left a makeshift Boro defence all at sea, and striker Stepien finished with aplomb from the tightest of angles.

Captain for the night, Buchanan, and Dale Stephens over-ran Boro in midfield, but the home side did have a couple of chances of their own; Ian Fitzpatrick hit the post with a free-kick and Lee Hendley left the Shakers defence flat-footed to bring the best out of Jim Provett in goal.

Powerful midfielder Ben Leonard was causing the UniBond League Division One outfit problems with his runs from deep in the second half, and he nearly connected with Buchanan's glorious cross from the left. But, unfortunately for the trialist, he connected with Dittmer and was left injured for his trouble.

Former Boro youth team player Domaine Rouse came on as a substitute for Bury and proved a handful, and Dittmer had to be at full stretch to get a hand to a powerful shot from the edge of the area.

Rouse did inject a bit of pace into proceedings, before a crowd of around 300 saw the game peter out as the Shakers held on for victory.