City are out of the FA Cup. Travelling to the Neuven Stadium, The Dolly Blues were beaten 5-3 in a goal-fest replay despite going ahead early thanks to Enock Likoy’s first goal of the season. It was then level at the half, 2-2, but the hosts upset the deadlock with three second-half strikes that put the tie well beyond Lancaster.

“I’m absolutely heartbroken,” Mark Fell confessed after the loss. “There were some really basic errors tonight which have cost us.” After going one up, City took their foot off the gas and Bury began to ramp up the pressure on them, aided by the noisy home support who only increased the decibel level as the night wore on.

The drop in intensity is easy to pinpoint as Fell pointed out, acknowledging that “I can’t put a team out at the moment” due to the plethora of injuries that have decimated the squad, but the loss will still sting for everyone involved as a poor performance at Giant Axe was not rectified.

It seemed, at first, that it might be City’s night as, early on, Likoy was more than alive to a poorly cleared corner, collecting on the edge of the box and whipping his body around to drill the ball rapidly into the roof of the net, celebrating delightedly with his teammates.

Bury were on the back foot for a little while longer, Likoy having a close-range volley saved before keeper Jack Atkinson athletically tipped David Norris’ header onto the crossbar. But after that flurry, the hosts began to gain control and made their breakthrough through Connor Comber, who scored opportunistically after Curtis Anderson had sprawled to make a couple of quick saves.

The score didn’t remain level for long as, minutes later, Anton Smith was adjudged to have been clipped from behind and a penalty was given to Bury. Ben Wharton confidently dispatched the penalty into the bottom left, Anderson going the other way.

Dom Lawson restored balance to the scoreline with a goal just before half-time when a deep City free kick was headed back across goal, tipped into the air by Atkinson and put in on the line by The Dollies’ striker.

Lancaster were relieved to be level, but Fell noted after the game that he and his staff knew that “If we didn’t get into half time ahead, that was going to be a problem for us.” His summation proved right as City’s threadbare squad were essentially given the run around in the second half by an energised Bury outfit. Lewis Gilboy led The Shakers’ charge with a brace.

His first was set up by Comber on 66 minutes, the forward beating Anderson to the ball before chipping a cross to the waiting Gilboy who headed past the backpedalling Niall Cowperthwaite. With just over 10 minutes to go, Gilboy got his second and made it 4-2 with a neat finish inside the near post when one-on-one with Anderson.

Nico Evangelinos scored just before added time to set up a potentially nervy finish, converting a corner that had made its way through the crowd to him. However, Bury were only galvanised and, after missing an open goal, they restored the two-goal cushion, Anton Smith tackling the ball off Anderson and into the goal. 5-3 the final score.

“The three goals we conceded second half were appalling,” Fell said. It was uncharacteristic of his defence to be so out of sorts, though he was forced to play Cowperthwaite, Brad Hubbold and Paul Jarvis there, none of whom are natural centre-backs.

To make matters more difficult, Lancaster face two tough away trips, to Matlock and Morpeth, with injuries showing no signs of abating. They are next at home when Belper Town come to Giant Axe on 1st October.