Thing of beauty for Flitcroft

Bury manager David Flitcroft saluted the 'beautiful' manner in which his side saw out a 2-1 home win over Carlisle.

Danny Nardiello opened the scoring with a 16th-minute penalty, only for Steven Rigg to draw Carlisle level six minutes later. Nardiello put Bury back in front in the 62nd minute and although he had a penalty saved on 77 minutes, the Shakers survived a frantic finish to climb back into the League Two play-off places. "It could have been 6-0," said Flitcroft. "With the chances we created we should have been out of sight. "In a strange way I'm glad it was a 2-1 type result because what I saw from my team in the last 10 minutes is something we've been working really hard on in training. "League Two teams will throw that ball high at you, they'll throw it long, and how you manage the game, how you manage those final moments is key. "We did some brilliant things in the last 10 minutes. In a really ugly side of the game I saw some real beauty and that impressed me. "Danny Nardiello deserved to get a hat-trick. He didn't get the penalty right but his second goal was exquisite. "We moved the ball adequately and had to deal with an avalanche of direct football but we coped with it superbly. The way the lads committed to the game plan was fantastic." Nardiello had sidefooted his first spot-kick low to Mark Gillespie's left after Carlisle right-back Matt Young tripped Danny Mayor. But the Blues replied on the break as Courtney Meppen-Walter's 25-yard strike was parried by Nick Pope and Rigg converted the rebound. Carlisle left-back Danny Grainger blocked a goalbound strike by Hallam Hope and shortly after the break, Nardiello turned over Craig Jones' low cross. But the Bury striker then latched onto Andrew Tutte's through-ball, dinking the ball over Gillespie and in off the far post. Nardiello fired straight at Gillespie after Anthony Sweeney was deemed to have handled Jones' cross for Bury's second penalty. And the visitors, who slipped to third-bottom, almost grabbed a point as substitute David Amoo twice headed wide while Pope denied Rigg. "Bury showed Carlisle how to play football in the match at Brunton Park but we're a different side now," said Carlisle manager Keith Curle. "We're disappointed with the manner of their second goal but there were lots of positives to come out of it, there's something growing in that changing room. "Bury have some good players and we pushed them to the limit. We had some good chances late on and we could have got a draw. "The pleasing thing was not only the application, the desire and the willingness, but there were lots of changes in formation and personnel and the attention to detail from the players was excellent. "They adapted very quickly to what we were trying to do and we were a constant threat. "The substitutes also had an impact so I know I've got game changers, I've got people who will go on and cause problems."