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Bury ’s League Two promotion hopes are back in their own hands after claiming a club-record seventh straight away win.

Portsmouth had the better of the first half but Ryan Lowe, an early substitute for the injured Tom Eaves, headed home on the stroke of half-time.

That proved enough to make it 11 wins from 13 games for the Shakers, moving them within two points of third-placed Wycombe. David

Flitcroft’s men will therefore leapfrog them into the automatic promotion places if they win their game in hand, which is at home to fifth-placed Southend tomorrow night.

“I’m excited for Tuesday night, it’s a really big game,” said Flitcroft. “We did really well to get the goal when we did.

“Sometimes you control it in possession and sometimes you control it out of possession.

“This time we did well out of possession and all we had to do was get the one goal at the end of the first half.

“It was good to get the goal as it could have been very different if we hadn’t. It was an absolutely stunning bit of play, too.

“It was a brilliant header and when Ryan shoots up like that, you just know he’s sighted it and he’s got the quality to execute it.”

Bury keeper Nick Pope was forced to make two saves in quick succession to deny Jed Wallace during the first half.

The Pompey midfielder was denied again from Craig Westcarr’s pass before firing wide in the 37th minute.

But Bury broke the deadlock as Joe Riley delivered a pinpoint cross from the right for an unmarked Lowe to head home his 10th goal of the season.

The hosts failed to mount a comeback after the break as the Shakers also extended their record run of clean sheets away from home to six.

Bury: Pope 8, Riley 8, Cameron 8, El-Abd 7, Hussey 7, Jones 7, Tutte 8, Etuhu 7 (Sedgwick 72), Mayor 7 (Rose 81), Soares 7, Eaves 6 (Lowe 35, 8). Subs: Adams, Nardiello, O’Brien, Lainton.