Gigg Lane   Attendance: 4,310       Referee: M S Pike           Bury 2   Portsmouth 1   Preece 23, D'Jaffo 44   McLoughlin (pen) 41           Kiely, Woodward, Barrick, Daws, Lucketti, Redmond, Swailes C, Matthews, D'Jaffo, Johnrose, Preece   Flahavan, Thorgersen, Simpson, McLoughlin, Whitbread, Awford, Vlachos, Peron, Aloisi, Claridge, Igoe           Subs       Ellis (90 mins for 9) Baldry (61 mins for 8) Patterson   Durnin (83 mins for 3) Soley (63 mins for 11) Pethick (74 mins for 2)           Bookings       Swailes (69)   Awford (73)

Any thoughts the Bury bubble had burst at Birmingham were quickly dispelled with a fourth successive home win on Tuesday.

The Shakers are proving that blood, sweat and tears really can produce miracles as they sit shoulder to shoulder with the big boys at the top of the First Division.

They are substituting silky skills for sheer endeavour and for the moment it’s working a treat. They show no signs of running out of steam and bounced back from their only defeat at St Andrew’s with just the right pick-me-up.

Alan Ball’s Portsmouth provided the flowing moves without posing a real threat as the resilient Shakers soaked up the pressure to leave ‘keeper Dean Kiely without a testing shot to save.

But Bury are not without their own danger men and twin strikers Andy Preece and Laurent D’Jaffo are gradually combining into an effective force.

They each grabbed a goal and should have had more, but the way they combined left manager Neil Warnock purring with delight.

"Our forwards grafted really hard and it was nice to see both of them on the scoresheet. Portsmouth are a decent side and our centre-backs were tested, but they never really got behind us and everyone ran their hearts out. " Preece stunned the visitors in the 23^rd minute with a rocket left foot shot which hit the net from a 25 yards free-kick and the big striker could easily have had a hat-trick before the break.

One minute after his goal he spotted the ‘keeper off his line and a 40 yards speculative lob went just to the wrong side of the post, while eight minutes later he should have done better than shooting wide after D’Jaffo had robbed Andy Awford and the ball had spun into his path.

Bury were well on top until the 40^th minute when Nick Daws upended Jeff Peron on the edge of the box and the referee had no hesitation in pointing to the spot despite Bury’s protestations.

Irish international Alan McLoughlin made no mistake with his fifth goal of the season, four of which have come from penalties.

But the ‘force’ is certainly with Bury at the moment and they hit back almost immediately to go in ahead at the break when work-horse Rob Matthews popped over a powerful corner in the 43^rd minute which the unmarked D’Jaffo headed home.

It was the ideal riposte and knocked the stuffing out of a Portsmouth side still smarting from a 3-0 reverse at Oxford on Sunday.

Pompey threatened in the second-half with talented seven goal Aussie striker John Aloisi always a handful, but Bury’s three centre backs snuffed out any danger to earn three more points and maintain the dream start.

Loan signing Simon Baldry was given an early run out replacing Matthews after 61 minutes but the £200,000 rated winger will have to produce some scintillating performances if he is going to persuade Bury to part with that kind of money.