Lowestoft – despite having a full squad to choose from for the first time since November – turned in a below-par performance against their local rivals.

In a dour first half there was little goalmouth action, although Lowestoft came close to scoring when a cross from the left picked out Curtley Williams whose header rebounded off the crossbar.

It came as something of a surprise when Lowestoft went ahead in added time. Jack Ainsley and Williams combined down the right and from the latter's cross Jake Reed headed home at the near post.

After the break, it took Bury less than two minutes to equalise when a ball in from the left deflected off a defender into the path of Russell Short who made no mistake from 10 yards.

Bury took the lead in the 52nd minute with a disputed goal as Tom Bullard forced the ball into the net following a right wing cross, with Lowestoft claiming he had used his hands.

There were loud penalty appeals by Lowestoft as a Williams cross appeared to be handled by a Bury defender, but the referee was unimpressed.

Bury sealed their victory with a third goal in the 71st minute when another low cross from the left was turned in at the far post by John Kennedy.

Lowestoft director of football Craig Fleming said: 'Taking away the goals it was probably fairly even on chances, but you can't really say we deserved anything, as we didn't play well enough to be honest.

'Two of their goals were very unfortunate for us with a clear handball and then an offside but that's grasping a little bit, as we were poor today and considering it was a local derby we didn't show any fight at all.'