Chesterfield made two forced changes to the starting line up that beat Mansfield at the weekend. Aaron Downes replaced the suspended Kevin Gray and Felix Bastians failed to shake off an ankle knock he picked up against the Stags, Derek Niven dropped into central midfield to compensate. With Jamie Winter retaining his place Peter Leven made his way to the left hand side of midfield and also assumed the captains role.

Bury made one change to their side with Andy Bishop suspended, in came Liam Hughes. Glynn Hurst made his first appearance for Bury against Chesterfield since his move in 2004.

Neither side were getting to grips with the game first up, and it wasn't till the Spireites won a corner in the first five which resulted in a foul on former Hartlepool keeper Jim Provett by Janos Kovacs that enabled me to write anything of note down.

A Yellow Card was produced by referee Anthony Taylor on 13 mins to Bury captain Paul Scott after a hard challenge on Jamie Winter. Following this the referee then produced a yellow for Jamie Lowry on 21 mins for a similar challenge on Scott. This was the Cornishman's fourth for the Season.

A Peter Leven free kick sailed over the bar at the 25 min mark and into the waiting Spireite supporters who were so far I assume bored to tears by the display on offer by both teams. That boredom changed rapidly when the Fourth Officials board went up to show Jamie Ward being replaced by Steve Fletcher, we assumed in the press box that he may have been ill but now it appears he was beginning to feel his hamstring tighten.

Provett almost conceded the games first goal when deciding to come charging out of his area to claim a cross he only proceeded to place the ball at the feet of Downes who blasted the ball over the bar if only it had fell to a striker then it may have been a goal. On 38 mins Bury all of a sudden sprung into life when Nicky Adams began to see more of the ball he was fouled in the build up to a free kick taken some 20 yards out. Adams placed the ball and Roche made a splendid save to his right to push the ball away in which Hurst could not net the rebound.

GOAL! A cross pumped into the area by Robertson and flicked on by Winter resulted in Leven having his legs taken by Scott in the penalty box. Leven stepped up the place the ball past Provett and it was 1-0 in a goal out of nowhere to be fair. A Bury supporter at this point was disgruntled enough with the referee's performance to attempt to get on the pitch however some hardy souls in orange jackets saw him forcefully ejected.

Half Time 0-1 Att 3168 (CFC contingent 767)

Second Half began with no further changes to either side and Bury started the brighter with a header from Ben Futcher going over the bar after a corner by Adams. A foul by Futcher on Lester resulted in a free kick taken by Jamie Winter which was charged down and in the resulting melee Steve Fletchers effort was far too high and wide to get the journos bothered. Incidentally the fella writing for the Bury Times had written "Appalling first half" in his first column I felt it hard to disagree.

On 57 minutes the Referee only conspired to annoy the Bury supporters by sending off Paul Scott for bringing down Peter Leven just outside the box, Scott had just been given a warning after clattering Winter not two minutes before.

Scott tossed his Captains armband away like a man who had not got much for Christmas but what ever he did get wasn't worth the effort.

The Bury Supporters now laid siege to the referee baying towards his every indiscretion whilst our players just carried on. Bury replaced Hughes with Richie Baker as they continued to harass us without intent. Hurst was completely ineffective as he wasn't getting passed too and the lively Nicky Adams by far Burys best player tried as he might but was well marshaled by Kovacs and Downes, so much so he decided to have a go at Picken on the left hand side instead.

A Bizarre incident happened next, Colin Woodthorpe a full back of some experience and one of The Shakers best players at Saltergate earlier in the season was having a nightmare of a match as most of his passes went astray. After for the umpteeneth time this appeared to happen a Bury Fan Chirped "Casper get him off" to which the board appeared and the number three for removal was shown, to the cheers of the Main Stand at least some anyway. Woodthorpe then proceeded to blast the ball I assume in the direction of the Main Stand but in the end smacked against an advertising hording and he rather sheepishly disappeared from view. Jack Dorney came on for Woodthorpe if anyone missed that.

A foul by Ben Futcher resulted in a yellow card for the former Lincoln man and Bury were losing patience with themselves. We on the hand were quite content to play the ball down the channels and try to pick them off with the odd counter attack. Bury had a chance to equalise when a free kick from Andy Parrish was headed across goal by Futcher and then flicked over from a Hurst header. The Spireites had an opportunity when Lester was put though on goal but was eventually forced out of it and the chance went.

Jack Lester then was removed from the action to be replaced by Adam Rooney on 82 mins as yet again the Spireites looked to obtain the killer goal. Lowry this time made a chance all for himself as he carved through the Bury defence only to be stopped by a fantastic challenge from Steven Haslam the former Wednesday youngster. Next up it was Peter Levens chance to make it safe when put through by a smashing Winter pass Leven got into the area only to chip the ball over the keeper and see it go agonisingly wide of the far post. The ref soon blew the whistle.

Well, after a dismal run in the League at Gigg Lane we finally have a win. Not since Clement Atlee was PM had we beaten the Shakers in the Football League and for most of this match we made it very hard for ourselves to win this today. Bury I felt have got worse since we played them on that balmy night in September and it tells when you have now lost five on the trot. We struggled to find that killer pass today but we did enough to win a game others may lose. The first half apart from the penalty was nondescript, however as Bury pushed on in the second we could have and in all reality should have made them pay. Still Six out of Six so far in the Christmas/New Year Period is an excellent tonic. Mentioning Clement Atlee reminds me of the Norwegian Commentator Bjorge Lillelien celebrating after his countrymen beat England in 1981, for me to proclaim this victory in same manner would seem bizarre but I can't get the sentiment out of my head.

By Paul Fisher