BURY'S wretched start to the season took another dive as two defensive howlers gifted troubled Accrington Stanley all three points on an afternoon where the Shakers slipped to their fifth defeat in eight games.

Enthusiasm has evaporated around Gigg Lane after last season's thrilling adventure in the play-offs, and it has been replaced by the stark reality that the reputation Bury worked so hard to gain is in danger of being quickly blown away.

Bobby Grant scored two late goals to condemn Alan Knill's men, and leave question marks hanging over Bury's ability to match their amazing achievements of last season.

“I'm more angry than disappointed,” said Knill. “Because we played so poorly I would have taken 0-0, and then we gave them two goals at the end. A poor performance Turned into a very poor one.

“There was nothing out there that Accrington did that should have been a surprise and yet it looked like it.

“We can prepare and give the players instructions, everything they need, but once they are on that pitch they have to take responsibility for themselves.

“I've been here before as a player and manager and you need strong characters to get through it.

“But it doesn't matter what I say, we need it on the pitch because we can't accept what we saw in this game.”

Accrington, who were second bottom of League Two before the game, might be forgiven for some indifferent results with the credible threat of closure hanging over them, but they were good value for their points.

Michael Symes and John Miles tried their luck in the first half, while Grant served notice of his threat with two good chances of his own.

A mixture of poor finishing and good goalkeeping kept the scores level, while some last-gasp defending from Phil Edwards saved a certain goal for Bury on the stroke of half-time when the Stanley ace cleared Andy Bishop's shot off the line.

Knill replaced the ineffective Jordan Robertson with Ryan Lowe at half-time, and the change looked to have paid dividends with the Liverpool-born striker causing all types of trouble with his intelligent passing and link-up play with David Worrall.

Bishop, in his first league start of the season, was guilty of some wastefulness in front of goal and he should have done better on a couple of occasions.

First he fired over from an acute angle six yards out after a glorious througball from Brian Barry-Murphy, and then he poked wide from a similar distance after Worrall's cross had evaded everyone and found the frontman unmarked at the far post.

The game looked to be petering out into a drab draw when, on 83 minutes, Grant capitalised on some hesitancy from Ben Futcher and lifted the ball over Wayne Brown.

And things went from bad to worse two minutes later when Grant tapped home after Efe Sodje had been robbed of the ball by Symes.

The Shakers have much soul-searching to do before they return to action with a home clash against Cheltenham Town on Saturday.

BURY: Brown 6, Scott 6, Futcher 5, Sodje 5, Newey 6, Worrall 7 (Baker 5, 70), Barry-Murphy 6, Dawson 6, Johnson 5 (Rouse 5, 85), Bishop 6, Robertson 5 (Lowe 7, 46). Subs not used: Cresswell, Belford, Thompson.

ACCRINGTON: Dunbavin 7, Kempson 7, Proctor 7, Miles 7, Joyce 7, Grant 8, Edwards 6 (Murphy 6, 81), Winard 7, Turner 6, Symes 7, Lee 6. Subs not used: King, McConville, Richardson, Molloy, Black, Riley.

Attendance: 3,082 (294 Accrington fans)

Referee: Graham Salisbury (Lancs)