Rochdale 0 Bury 3: A THIGH injury has kept Danny Swailes out of the Shakers' opening five games of the new campaign and he's been sorely missed.

His first appearance in a Bury shirt on Saturday underlined just what an important player he is to Graham Barrow's side.

It was no coincidence that the Shakers picked up their first clean sheet of the season at Rochdale with Swailes back in the team.

The big defender even popped up at the other end of the pitch to head home the second goal in this one-sided encounter.

This convincing victory was one that has been threatened since the start of the season, all that's been missing is defensive stability as there's been no problem with the team going forward.

Hopefully, now Swailes is back in action the Shakers will now pick up the results their overall play deserves.

Although they dominated the early stages of Saturday's clash at Spotland in was the Dale who carved out the first clear cut opening in the 11th minute.

A flick from Paul Tait sent Grant Holt in on goal but his rising drive was saved by an alert Glyn Garner.

The Shakers took the lead after 26 minutes and never looked back from that point.

A surging run down the right by Nugent ended with the youngster feeding Dwayne Mattis on the end of the box.

With his back to goal, the Irish Under-21 international then did superbly well to turn his man and clip a fine left foot effort beyond the despairing reach of Neil Edwards.

It was a quality finish and wasn't to be the last of the day.

Seven minutes after half time former Dale man Dave Flitcroft put an inch-perfect free-kick from the left onto the head of Swailes who headed superbly past Edwards to double the Shakers tally.

The in-form Nugent was causing the Rochdale defence all sorts of problems with his pace and directness and it was fitting that he put the final nail in the home side's coffin.

Terry Dunfield was the architect. The Canadian threaded an exquisite ball through the Rochdale defence for Nugent who calmly rounded Edwards before side-footing home.

The goal sparked a mass exodus of home fans who knew there was only going to be one winner.

And they saved themselves the pain of having to watch the Shakers play lengthy periods of keep-ball late in the game as they unmercifully made their superiority pay.

"A win like that has been on the cards for us," said boss Barrow.

"You have to give credit to the players, if they want a good season they can have one.

"We have some quality in the squad now and all the lads are looking forward to playing their football and it shows.

"Considering that was the first time that defence has played together we have done well and Glyn Garner only had one shot to save."

BURY FORM GUIDE

Garner 7, Unsworth 7, Kennedy 7, Swailes 8, Challionr 8, Scott 7, Mattis 8 (Whaley 78, 7), Flitcroft 7, Barry-Murphy 7 (Dunfield 66, 8), Nugent 8 (Newby, 81, 7), Porter. Subs not used: Barrass and Smith.

Referee: Graham Salisbury (Preston). Attendance: 3,913.