Cambridge United produced their finest away performance of the season to topple League Two high flyers Bury 0-3 at Gigg Lane to move nine points clear of the bottom two.

Jones, Amoo and Maris registered in a superb display from United who made a significant step towards securing their Football League safety.  

The U’s lined up with four changes as Reggie Lambe, Jake Doyle-Hayes, David Amoo and Alex Jones stepped into the starting eleven, whilst captain Gary Deegan was a notable absentee following the back injury he picked up in the U’s previous fixture.

Up against a side who had scored 72 times so far this season, the U’s faced a hugely challenging task and Dimitar Mitov was into action early after initially fumbling a Nicky Adams free kick, he recovered quickly to make a key save at his near post moments later.

However Calderwood’s were quick to get a foothold in the game and on 16 minutes opened the scoring when Alex Jones wriggled his way on to the end of a scramble for the ball inside the Bury area and wrapped in his first goal for the U’s eight yards out.

United were very close to a quickfire double but Jevani Brown wasn’t quite able to stretch out his left leg enough to direct in a deep David Amoo cross at the back post.

United then managed the game well for a long spell and defended impressively when Bury delivered a series of crosses in the 18 yard box midway through the half. As the first 45 minutes progressed it was United who continued to create the clearer openings.

Having been unable to test Bury keeper Joe Murphy with a pair of chances around the half hour mark, Amoo made no mistake in burying a second goal for the U’s when he darted onto a flick on by Brown and slotted the ball into the net to double the advantage.

Aside from a one on one save from Mitov to deny Nicky Maynard five minutes before half time, the U’s worked extremely hard to protect the Bulgarian and perhaps were unfortunate not to be further than two goals ahead at the break after an impressive first half performance.

Amoo had the ball in the back of the net three minutes into the second half after finishing a neat piece of play between Jones and Brown, but the flag was raised against the winger on this occasion.

Defensively United with the amendment of Louis John at centre back alongside Greg Taylor following a knock to George Taft, did a great job of holding their shape and clearing their lines with no thrills when required as Bury increased their possession up to the hour mark.

Harrison Dunk made a key interception with 25 minutes to play, when the left back blocked Jay O’Shea’s cross s Neil Danns seemed certain to pull a goal back.

Still though United carved out opportunities on the counter attack, Jevani Brown sent Jones through on goal but the striker was denied with a strong two handed save by Murphy, before roles revered minutes later and Brown was unable to squeeze a shot in from an acute angle.

However George Maris put United further ahead on 70 minutes with an assured finish from the centre of the Bury area on the end of a Brown corner delivery to send the travelling U’s fans behind the goal into jubilant celebrations and put the game as a contest to bed.

The U’s still needed to see the game out and when Mitov was required he more than responded with a fine save high to his right to get hands to an in-swinging shot by Dom Telford which looked certain for the top corner.

Bury F.C | Murphy, Aimson (O’Connell, 33 mins), Thompson, Adams (Telford, 68 mins), Rossiter, Moore, Wharton (Cooney, 45 mins), McFadzean, O’Shea, Danns, Maynard

Bookings:

Cambridge United: Mitov, Halliday, Taft (John, 45 mins), Taylor, Dunk, Amoo (Ibehre, 85 mins), Doyle-Hayes, Maris, Lambe, Brown, Jones (Coulson, 75 mins)

Bookings:

Attendance: 3,386 (104)