SQUASH: From this lacklustre performance, in which Steve Bottomley was the only winner, it certainly looked like the Bury players had one eye on the turkey and mince pies.

Bottomley was very much on top of his game and crushed Amena Helal in three sets.

After taking the opener 9-4, Bury's number two cruised home with two whitewashes to provide the only highlight of a disappointing night.

By the time he was on court in match four, however, the tie was already in the bag for the home side.

Bury's evening began with Stu Garnett falling in three sets to Andy Taylor.

The Lodge player cruised the second set but either side of thatGarnett had battled well.

Nonetheless it was a bad start for the visitors and Steve Creegan, exchanging places with Paul Harrison at number four, was next up.

Early doors, it looked like Creegan was going to cope admirably with his promotion.

He took the opener against Craig Lyon, but the second set was the vital one.

Big Steve would have been firmly in front if he'd squeezed out a 2-0 lead, but a tough set went the way of the home side and thereafter Lyon took control.

Sets three and four were more to his liking as he eased away for a four set win.

A crisis in the Bury camp usually heralds the appearance of Eddie Black, and this week was no different.

This time, sadly, Black was in the same boat as his team-mates.

Stephen Withington completely dominated this match and it takes a 'good-un' to lower Black's colours in this way.

Only in the second set was Bury's number one able to get competitive, but that also went to his opponent.

After Bottomley had arrested Bury's slump, Paul Harrison's tie with Gary Caldeira closed the match.

Harrison lost in four sets, but this match was the closest of the evening.

The opening two sets were shared on tie-breaks, but Caldeira then upped the pace.

The Tiger clung on to the home players' coat-tails but just couldn't quite re-establish a position to attack, and the evening ended pretty much as it started for Bury.

A disappointing night for them, but not a true reflection of their form throughout the season.

l S. Withington 3-0 E. Black (9-3, 9-7, 9-2); A. Helal 0-3 S. Bottomley (4-9, 0-9, 0-9); A. Taylor 3-0 S. Garnett (9-7, 9-0, 9-6); C. Lyon 3-1 S. Creegan (6-9, 9-6, 9-2, 9-3); G. Caldeira 3-1 P. Harrison (10-9, 8-10, 9-5, 9-6)