BURY’S faltering away form finally came home to roost on Saturday as Aaron O’Connor’s hat-trick inspired Newport to victory and ended the Shakers’ run of seven straight league wins at the JD Stadium.

Manager David Flitcroft was at a loss for words to explain his side’s dismal first-half display, which ultimately condemned them to their first defeat on home turf since the opening day of the season.

But the frailties that handed the visitors their opening two goals on a plate will have been nothing new to the Bury supporters who have followed them home and away.

O’Connor capitalised on two glaring defensive mix-ups to send Newport into the break two goals to the good.

And his third goal in stoppage time ended any dreams of a Bury comeback after Danny Rose had reduced the arrears in the 62nd minute.

Taken in isolation, and with Flitcroft’s men previously all-conquering in the league at the JD, this performance could have been viewed as just a bad day at the office.

But it followed similarly disappointing defeats at home to Tranmere in the Johnstone’s Paint Trophy and at Morecambe in the league, which extended Bury’s winless streak on the road to five matches.

That bad run away from home had been masked to a certain degree by the Shakers’ imperious form at the JD Stadium, but the boos that reverberated around the ground at full-time sent a clear message that the Bury faithful were aware of the bigger picture.

And Flitcroft’s failure to pinpoint a root cause of his side’s downturn in form in his post-match press conference will have done little to ease their concerns.

“First half I can’t really put my finger on why we under-performed, but we certainly did,” he said.

“Over the last nine or 10 months they have not put in any performance at home that you could describe as being a little bit inept, but today’s performance was.”

Central defender Pablo Mills - the only ever-present in the Bury starting line-up this season - was forced to sit out the match with a groin injury. And it was a catalogue of errors in the heart of the Bury defence that led to Newport’s third-minute opener.

Captain Jim McNulty and midfielder Tom Soares went for the same ball on the edge of the D and ended up tackling each other, allowing Yan Klukowski time and space to play in O’Connor.

The defensive clanger that led to Newport’s second goal was even more difficult to comprehend, as Bolton Wanderers defender Hayden White – on his debut following a temporary switch from the Macron Stadium - got in the way of an attempted clearance by goalkeeper Scott Loach.

O’Connor gratefully mopped up the breakdown in communication between the two loan signings to roll in the loose ball.

Newport also had a first-half goal disallowed for a push on Loach. And while Rose and McNulty both headed over for the home side and Nicky Adams shot wide, Bury failed to force opposition stopper Joe Day into making a single save in the opening 45 minutes.

“First half was a performance that doesn’t represent me as a person or as a manager,” said Flitcroft.

“The mistakes and the lack of real aggression to defend the edge of the box was quite alarming.

“The two goals were very poor – two big mistakes – but the performance itself lacked real energy.”

Bury looked far more potent after the break. Day was finally called into action on 50 minutes to save a low shot from Rose before the striker put the ball on a plate for Adams, who dragged an effort wide when unmarked inside the box.

The returning Ryan Lowe, back after missing three games following a hernia operation, then glanced a header across goal. But the early pressure finally told as Rose buried a shot into the bottom corner from 25 yards.

The 20-year-old’s eighth goal of the season summed him up perfectly as the former Tyke doggedly won the ball while lying prone on the ground before laying it off to Adams and then scurrying to his feet to get into position to receive the return pass.

Day showed strong hands to parry a Chris Hussey thunderbolt shortly after Rose’s goal and at that point it looked a matter of when, rather than if Bury would grab an equaliser.

But Newport managed to quieten down the crowd with some well-timed “injuries” and after Adams missed another couple of chances Day again kept Bury at bay with a late finger-tip save to turn behind a Hussey free kick.

Any lingering hopes were extinguished when O’Connor broke clear in stoppage time to seal his hat-trick, prompting faint praise from Flitcroft as Newport moved up to eighth-place in League Two, just two points behind Bury in the final play-off spot.

“Everyone has come here to try to close us down and stop us from playing, but when our tempo has been quick they have not been able to,” said Flitcroft.

“In the second half they couldn’t get anywhere near us, but Newport found a way to break the game down when we were really on top.

“So good luck to Newport, but I have got to get this right and we are not far off.”

BURY: Loach 4; Cameron 6, McNulty 5, Hussey 7; White 6 (Thompson 87), Etuhu 5, Soares 5, Mayor 6; Adams 7; Lowe 6 (Nardiello 6 57), Rose 7.

Not used: Lainton, Tutte, Sedgwick, O'Brien, Duffus.

NEWPORT COUNTY: Day; Yakubu, Hughes, Jones; Obeng (Jackson 76), Porter, Klukowski, Minshull (Byrne 71), Sandell; O'Connor, Zebroski.

Not used: Pidgeley, Feeley, Chapman, Jeffers, Pigott.

Goals: Bury 1 (Rose 62) Newport County 3 (O’Connor 3, 42 & 90+4).

Yellow cards: Newport County – Zebroski and Jones.

Referee: Carl Boyeson.

Attendance: 3,166 (160 visiting).

Star man: Danny Rose – The Barnsley-born attacker hit the ground running after sealing his move to the JD Stadium in August with five goals in his first six matches. The 20-year-old striker has found goals harder to come by since then, but his eighth of the season proved Rose is not content to wait for chances to fall at his feet. This strike was all of his own making as the young poacher showed real bravery to win back the ball with the studs flying before working hard to support Nicky Adams after somehow passing to him while lying prone on the floor. His unerring finish also proved the youngster is capable of finding the net from outside the six-yard box. It is a shame that Rose’s desire to chase down a lost cause was not rewarded by at least a point, but if Bury are to turn around their current poor run of form then his tenacity could prove to be the catalyst.