BURY 2 LEYTON ORIENT 1 HOW Bury must be wishing they could turn back the clock.

They have finally struck a level of form and confidence which does justice to their pre-season ranking of promotion favourites.

Now all they need are the points to match.

If two stirring wins in four days aren't enough to strike fear into the hearts of their Third Division rivals, then a brief listen to manager Stan Ternent's forecast of things to come should make them sit up and take notice.

"I am hopeful this win will kick-start our season," he says.

"We had eleven men of the match out there, in fact we had 14 star men because everybody in the squad plays an important part.

"It takes time to get players to do what you want them to do but I know what I want and how I want it. I have made that clear to the players and we are getting there.

"In the long run we will be a very good team."

Orient won't disagree. Bury's first home league win was only the London high-flyers' second Third Division defeat of the season and they can have no complaints. The Shakers were always the more dominant and creative even if they had old boy Tony Kelly to thank for missing an absolute sitter of a header ten minutes from time.

That was a rare breach of the Shakers defence, as was a last minute assault which needed an important save by Gary Kelly and some desperate defending to ensure justice was done.

There wouldn't have been any late jitters if Bury had taken their chances. David Pugh was unlucky when he got to Tony Rigby's measured cross in front of Shakers old boy Roger Stanislaus only to see his powerful header crash back off the crossbar. But he should have done better than fire Ryan Cross's inviting centre hopelessly wide at the start of the second half, while Phil Stant was equally wasteful with a free header from Dean West's glorious pull back eight minutes from time.

Top scorer Stant had earned the right to miss one himself after providing two quality assists. His inspired lob in a packed goalmouth gave Mark Carter the chance to gratefully force the ball over the line after nine minutes. And on the stroke of half time he darted on to Pugh's through ball and delivered a vicious low cross which defender Ian Hendon could only turn against his own post and Rigby pounced to blast home the winner from the narrowest of angles.

Colin West replied in between with the simplest of tap-ins after Alex Inglethorpe's piledriver proved too hot for Gary Kelly to hold during the visitors' most threatening spell of the match.

"They made it difficult for us in the first half but in the second we passed the ball much better and created more chances," reflected Ternent. The most outstanding distribution was provided by Rigby who carried on from his sparking performance against Sheffield United. He again revelled in the quality possession made available by the fiercely competitive Ian Hughes and Shaun Reid alonside him.

And he summed up the welcome wind of change being provided by Ternent's increasingly evident emphasis on passing and movement.

"We're now giving the fans what they want and the players are enjoying it as much as they are." Kelly 7, Cross 7, Bimson 7, Reid 7, Lucketti 7, Matthewson 7, Hughes 7, Carter 7, Stant 8, RIGBY 8, Pugh 7. Subs: West 7 (for Bimson 63 mins), Sertori and Johnson.

Att: 3,025.

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