Aylesbury made the long trip to Suffolk and proved little match for a quality Bury Town outfit who looked every bit the title challengers.
In the first half especially, the home side simply blew the Ducks out of the water, with their overall quality on the ball and their sharpness of movement proving just too much for United to handle.
Blues were four to the good within half an hour, but in all honesty it could have been ten. That is in no way a swipe at United, who battled well and, to their great credit, continued to do so for the entire 90 minutes. It is more a reflection of the different levels the two clubs are currently at on the pitch.
The one-way traffic started pretty much immediately and after plenty of pressure in the early seconds the first chance came to Ben Coker who had a shot blocked, before Callum Kearns saw an effort blocked on the line.
It wasn?t long before the scoring was opened, although Bury were aided by an own goal as a deep free-kick from Coker was headed back across goal and Richard Pringle could do nothing but head the ball into his own net. 1-0 Bury
Three minutes later and there was a second for the hosts. Coker back heeled for Lee Reed to curl in an inviting cross, which although Ashleigh James did well to head clear, the ball sat up for Lee Underwood to strike a superb overhead kick into the net. 2-0 Bury
That was the 100th league goal conceded of United?s season, but it was never going to be the last of this night.
Just four minutes later and it was three, Lee Reed releasing Leabon with an exquisite pass and the Bury put the afterburners on to escape the defence before managing to just nick the ball past the advancing Sillitoe and score. 3-0 Bury
The siege to Aylesbury?s goal momentarily subsided and the visitors had their first attempt through Lewis McBride whose low shot was straight at Garnham in goal. But normal service was soon resumed as Leabon saw a shot blocked by Bartley, Coker curled wide, Leabon drove over and Russell Short cut inside before striking a left-footed shot which was always going wide as the procession of chances continued.
Number four arrived on 33 minutes through Lee Reed who buried a shot from six-yards after a low left-wing cross had been cleverly allowed to run on to him by Callum Kearns. 4-0
That had followed another Aylesbury effort where Taylor had fired straight at Garnham from Pringle?s flick on. Threats to the Bury goal were rare, so it came as something of a surprise when Lewis McBride reduced the deficit before half-time with a virtuoso solo effort as he rounded off a great run with a perfectly placed low shot into the corner. 1-4
Underwood spurned a couple of great chances as a difficult half for Aylesbury drew to a close.
Half-time: Bury 4-1 Aylesbury
The Ducks made two changes at the break as they went to a five-man midfield, and it seemed to pay dividends early on as the game was now a much more even encounter, with Aylesbury seeing good spells of possession.
Bury has the first attempt when Short?s low drive clipped the outside of the post, but United had the better of the chances which followed as James released Pringle but Garnham was off his line quickly to smother. From the resulting corner Newby had a shot blocked in the area.
Substitute Darren Woolard then came mightily close to pulling another goal back for United as he was put in behind the defence but his shot from out wide was somehow scraped off the line with some last ditch Bury defending.
The Blues responded by bringing on veteran midfielder Gavin Johnson, and his experience in midfield proved a dominating influence as the pendulum swung back to the home side again.
Once more it looked a question of ?when? rather than ?if? the hosts would add to their scoring, with Steward crashing a shot wide after good build up down the left from Sam Reed and Coker, then Sam Reed seeing a shot deflected wide for a corner.
It was from that corner that Bury grabbed a fifth. Aylesbury were unable to clear the ball, and Sillitoe was unable to hold Johnson?s resulting fierce drive from inside the box, the ball dropping for Underwood who fired home from three-yards. 5-1 Bury
Underwood had numerous chances to complete his hat-trick before the night was out, one of the best coming almost immediately as he was picked out with a right-wing cross but could only head over.
Lee Reed showed him how it should be done with a textbook header from a similar cross moments later as the Ducks defence found themselves exposed again, Sillitoe given no chance. 6-1 Bury
As previously mentioned, Aylesbury kept going right up to the final whistle and they got some reward for this when they scored a second two minutes from time. Montgomery sprung the offside trap and ran from just inside the Bury half before finishing with aplomb past Garnham. 2-6
With the game going into injury time, the home side still had a string of chances to add a seventh, with Underwood more often than not the guilty party in front of goal as he had a shot saved, hit the woodwork and fired wide, and it finished 6-2.
For United?s part this was never a game they were expected to get a result from, but they can take heart from the effort they put in throughout the match and if they can produce a similar level of performance against the ?lesser? teams of the league can still hope for a bright final few weeks of the season.
