STEVENAGE might have tamed Premier League giants Newcastle United last month, but they proved no match for the rampant Shakers on Tuesday evening.

Still fresh from their FA Cup heroics, Graham Westley’s men arrived at Gigg Lane with the best defensive record in the division.

That proud statistic was no longer theirs as they boarded the bus back home – thanks to another inspired display by Alan Knill’s side.

Andy Bishop, making his first start since September, Efe Sodje and Ryan Lowe were all on the scoresheet to keep the Shakers’ promotion dream well and truly alive.

And it was done in style.

“Our passing and movement in the first half was excellent and we should have got more than one goal,” said Knill, who was delighted with his team’s performance after their game against Burton Albion on Saturday was washed out by the rain.

“At 1-0 you are always worried it can go either way and, when you are dominating the game so much, you would prefer to go in at half-time with two goals. But we kept going and ground it out in the second half.

“I am delighted with the effort and application of the players. Our tempo was really good and I think we would have given most teams a problem with the way we played, never mind Stevenage.”

The manager was spot on in his assessment. It is difficult to believe any club in League Two would have been able to live with Bury’s forward line in the opening 30 minutes.

The visitors looked to have a mean defence on paper, but they simply could not handle Bishop, Lowe and Co.

Bishop set the ball rolling when he scuffed Steven Schumacher’s cross against the inside of the post and wheeled away in delight as it rolled over the line.

There was an element of fortune about the eighth-minute strike, but, after four months out with tendonitis, it was the least the terrace hero deserved.

Andy Haworth saw a long-range effort superbly tipped wide by Chris Day and the Shakers should have doubled their lead three minutes later.

Good link-up play between the two strikers presented Lowe with a great opportunity, but the top scorer could only blaze over the bar.

Stevenage weathered the storm and Byron Harrison was twice denied as the visitors tried to make a game of it.

Scott Laird – the defender who hit the headlines when he was punched by one of his own supporters in the aftermath of his side’s FA Cup giantkilling of Newcastle United – brought another good save out of Cameron Belford from a free-kick as the visitors turned the screw.

But the points looked like they were in the bag when Efe Sodje, still in a forward position after a free-kick was cleared, nipped in behind the Stevenage defence and poked home from just six yards.

Stout defending repelled any hopes of a comeback, with Tom Lees making two particularly crucial clearances on the line from Craig Reid.

Bury’s third came in the 70th minute when Haworth found an unmarked Lowe, who planted a header into the bottom corner for his 18th goal of the season.

The scoreline could have been even more convincing but Day tipped Lowe’s long-range effort over the bar to keep his side’s margin of defeat down.

The two sides next meet again on the final day of the season and, with the defenders keeping clean sheets and strikers bang in form, it is hard to imagine Bury not heading into that match with promotion firmly on the agenda.

BURY: Belford 8, Picken 7, Lees 8, Sodje 8, Skarz 7, Haworth 7 (Bennett 6, 80), Schumacher 8, Mozika 8, M Jones 7 (Worrall 6, 78) , Lowe 8, Bishop 8 (John-Lewis 6, 82). Subs not used: Sweeney, A Jones, Harrop, Cutler.

STEVENAGE: Day 7, Wilson 6, Laird 6, J Ashton 6, L Ashton 6, Roberts 7 (Winn 6, 71), Bardsley 6 (Reid 7, 62), Mousinho 7 (Byrom 6, 90), Sinclair 6, Bostwick 7, Harrison 7. Subs not used: Bayes, Charles, Bridges, Henry.

Attendance: 2,080 (84 Stevenage fans).

Referee: Graham Salisbury (Lancs).