Bury 3, Barnet 0.

BARNET'S ten-game unbeaten league run came crashing to a halt in Lancashire on Saturday.

An organised and pacy home side and some sluggish defending conspired to derail the promising start to the season made by the Bees.

Barnet started the game positively, looking to get the ball down and play and even by half-time no one in the stadium would have predicted the final score line.

But they were ultimately undone by the pace of the Bury strikers, whose partnership was at times telepathic, and all three goals came on the break against a sluggish Barnet back line.

In the first 15 minutes the Bees looked more likely to break the deadlock in some edgy early exchanges, with Jason Puncheon and Ashley Carew probing down the flanks and testing the Bury back three with some dangerous crosses.

They certainly looked the more ambitious of the two teams and in the first ten minutes Liam Hatch took on three defenders on a mazy run. He looked to have the better of them before he was foiled by a last-ditch tackle on the edge of the box.

The Bees looked to build up play with some short, sharp and tidy passing and Hatch held the ball up well. But Bury's five-man midfield congested the middle of the park and putting the breaks on any sustained fluidity.

At the other end Hatch was winning the aerial battle. The Bury defenders did not heed the warning signs and on 15 minutes Barnet's top scorer powered home a fine header from a corner, sending the handful of visiting fans into raptures.

But referee Nigel Miller chalked the goal off for pushing. It looked a harsh call but there was no protests from the Barnet players, who perhaps believed another goal would come sooner or later.

But on the stroke of half-an-hour Adams broke down the right and curled a perfect low cross on to the penalty spot. Lee Harrison stood no chance of beating Hurst to the ball and the Bury number nine poked the ball home.

The goal seemed to galvanise the Bees and Carew and Puncheon swapped flanks to good effect. With Puncheon cutting back inside and exchanging neat one-twos the Bees began to make headway through the midfield.

Bury keeper Jim Provett then came out and flapped at a high ball, which popped back into the air. With a defender covering in goal, the ball sailed slowly back down and looked for a moment as if it would dip into the net, only for it to bounce off the bar.

After the break the Bees struggled to regain any rhythm and the Bury strikers began to come into their own.

Working the inside-left channel, a clever one-two with Managan slipped Nicky Adams in between Devera and Joe O'Cearuill. The left wing-back shaped himself around the ball and placed his shot in the bottom corner.

Barnet were faced with a mountain to climb but only minutes later the same flat-footed defending let Managan in behind O'Cearuill. The striker laid the ball on for Hurst a yard out but with the goal at his mercy the striker somehow managed to kick the ball into his own shin and watch it bounce wide.

It was a let-off but it looked as if the floodgates had been opened. And when Puncheon and Carew trudged off - with a view to Tuesday night's home game - it looked like it was game over for the Bees, who then lost Hatch to a twisted knee.

Five minutes before time Adams ran at O'Cearuill, cut inside and sent a 25 yard drive past Harrison to cap off a night the Bees will be happy to forget.