Flitcroft: Result never in doubt

David Flitcroft insists he had no doubts that his Bury side would come good after watching them win 2-0 at home to Mansfield.

The Shakers had gone eight games without a win before their Boxing Day victory at Northampton. Ryan Lowe and Danny Mayor then scored late in each half against Mansfield to give Bury their first back-to-back league wins since September and put them back on the brink of the League Two play-off places. "It's been a good Christmas," said manager Flitcroft. "The fans and the players deserve that. "I asked them to sacrifice a lot in terms of family time and they've worked tirelessly. "In the last three games we've got back to representing what the club's about. "It was never in doubt. If you look at the performances, we were building towards back-to-back wins, which we've got now. "It wasn't down to a lack of belief, it was just a matter of making better decisions against teams of Mansfield's style." "In the first half, technically it was an excellent performance," he added. "We moved the ball superbly. "Second half we had to out-battle them, which we didn't do in November. We didn't get to grips with the physicality. "But we did here, we showed both sides of what we're about. The game management was great. It was a commanding performance." The Shakers had struggled to break down Mansfield's five-man defence early on until Lowe twice fired straight at Dimitar Evtimov. And when Hallam Hope's 20-yard effort was parried by Evtimov in the 40th minute Lowe tapped in the rebound for his eighth goal of the season - and first in 11 games. With 12 minutes left, Bury found Mayor deep down the left and the winger turned his man before cutting inside and firing inside the far post for his sixth goal this term. Mansfield almost pulled one back as Brown's cut-back was deflected goalwards but keeper Rob Lainton managed to turn it wide. Their recently-appointed manager Adam Murray said: "I'm disappointed but we knew what we'd be up against. "Bury are one of the best sides in the league. They move the ball well so if we pressed from the off we were likely to get picked off. We couldn't go gung-ho. "We kept our shape well but at times the boys took it too literally because when we did win it back we didn't want to hurt them. "At 60 minutes we went 4-4-2 and created two or three chances. But there has to be a realism of the situation we're in. "We're in a battle and we need points on the board - the lads are aware of that. "The whole scenario has already cost one manager his job so there needs to be change. The sooner we can get more ingredients in the better."