Ashcroft named a fairly different side to the one that beat Garstang in the Macron cup last Tuesday with Mitch Marshall and Daniel Wilkinson returning from suspension and debuts for defender Calen Gallgher-Allison and winger Josh Winder.

The match kicked off and the first few minutes couldn't have gone any better for Town.

It was fairly even until the 9 minute when Longridge got their groove on.

Marshall raced down the right before firing a cross into the head of the debutant Winder whose free header was way over.

However the other debutant was soon called into action as Gallagher-Allison had to be on hand to take Comber's square ball away from Scarisbrick at the last moment.

The Ridge kept up the pressure though as Winder's cross into Turner was hit goalwards by the striker but the Bury goalkeeper did well to keep it out with his legs.

Turner would then come close again just moments later as his close range header was parried wide brilliantly by Wright to keep it goalless.

Sam Olawumi was the first to be booked for a fiery challenge of Bury's Gaz Peet on 22 minutes.

Around this time was when Bury slowly but surely began to take more control of the ball.

Doyle's deflected effort on the half hour mark was gathered by Barry despite not being a easy save to make.

Just before the break Town's hard work unfortunately counted for nothing at half time as Peet's cross was punched away by Barry but into the hand of Gallagher-Allison forcing the referee to point to the spot despite the Longridge appeals.

Sam Burns stepped up and sent Barry the wrong way to put the Shakers ahead.

At the interval the pound for the ground winner was ticket no.3535 who win £91. A big thank you to those who entered.

Bury debutant Declan Daniels had an early second half chance to double the visitors' lead as he raced through on goal but was unable to beat Kier Barry who denied him brilliantly.

It was delight for Longridge and PT just minutes later as the striker bagged the equaliser for Ashey's men on the 49th minute.

Morgan Homson-Smith did brilliantly to keep it in with his back down the left before playing in Ryan McLean.

The wing back surged down the left before firing low into the feet of Paul Turner who made no mistake from close range to pull Town level.

Skipper Ben Fletcher was booked for a coming together with Doyle on 54 minutes before the visitors retook the lead.

Two minutes later and Daniels connected with Butterworth's cross before sending a looping header into the top right corner.

Down but not right, Town came forward again on the hour mark.

This time with Homson-Smith as he hit one from 25 yards that soared just inches over the right corner.

Ashcroft made a double change five minutes later with Wilkinson and Winder departing for Gourley and Ing.

Harrison Kay also replaced goalscorer Paul Turner on 77 minutes.

Homson-Smith was dangerous again with ten minutes left to play as his cross from the right reached Marshall whose header was palmed wide by Wright.

Homson-Smith swung the resulting corner into the danger zone only to see it punched out to Kay whose first time volley went high and wide.

In a last ditch attempt Town's final two substitutes came on as Mitch Marshall and Ben Fletcher were replaced by Leighton Hewitt and Luke Smith.

It almost worked too as Longridge had the ball in the net through Cameron Gourley but the flag was up on the far side, possibly penalising Dean Ing.

Homson-Smith was handed another corner to cross as we entered the 90 and an added 5 minutes.

It was headed out to Scott Harries who just couldn't reach Smith, who was making a run into the box, with his pass.

Apart from Dean Ing suffering a hit to his lower chest area in 0° temperature there was nothing else to shout home about in the dying stages as Bury saw the game out.

The full time whistle blew on time, confirming three points to Bury.

Whilst a disappointing result, it's certainly a performance to be proud of.

A reminder that if you bought a ticket for this game then you gain free entry to our next home game against Pilkington on 23rd December.

Our next game is on Saturday 16th December when we travel to Droylsden in the Macron cup.

Once again, a big thank you for the support with the attendance reaching 677.

The Goals:

Longridge: Turner (49')

Bury: Burns (45', P), Daniels (56')

The Teams:

Longridge line-up: Barry, Marshall (L.Hewitt 83'), Olawumi, Gallagher-Allison, McLean, Fletcher (Smith 83'), Wilkinson (Gourley 65'), Harries, Homson-Smith, Winder (Ing 65'), Turner (Kay 77')

Bury line-up: Wright, Butterworth, Moore, Jepson, Peet, Doyle, Reeves, Burns (Kachosa 67'), Comber (Kellet 46'), Scarisbrick (Smith 83'), Daniels (Hobson 90+1')