Fulham 3 - Bury 1 - BURY'S Worthington Cup romance came to a sad end as Fulham made their Premiership class tell at Loftus Road.

There was to be no repeat of the Shakers' heroics at the Reebok last month as two goals from Latvian international Andrejs Stolcers and one from former England midfielder Lee Clark broke their hearts.

And it proved to be a night of double misery for Andy Preece's men as influential midfielder Terry Dunfield was forced to bow out of the action just after half time with a suspected dislocated shoulder that could keep out for months.

Dunfield was rushed from the ground to hospital for an x-ray and it appears the little Canadian's loan spell from Manchester City has ended in tragic circumstances.

Jean Tigana's cosmopolitan collective kicked off with eleven players of different nationalities - ten of them full internationals.

It was a line-up that seemed to have an intimidating effect on the Gigg Lane men who never got going in a one-sided first half.

Player-boss Preece and co-striker Jon Newby cut lonely figures up front as their teammates failed to provide them with any sort of ammunition.

And despite some resolute defending from the Shakers it was inevitable that the Londoners slick passing game would begin to pay dividends eventually.

Twice in the space of two minutes goalkeeper Glyn Garner had to be at his best to keep out a Barry Hayles header and a shot from Japanese superstar Junichi Inamoto.

Yet it looked as if the Shakers would go into the break level until a slip by Dunfield was punished and Hayles played in Stolcers who made no mistake from ten yards.

Bury opening the second period brightly but were rocked to their boots in a four minute spell that saw Dunfield stretchered off and Fulham double their account.

Just like the goal they conceded down the road at Leyton Orient on Saturday it was a real sucker punch.

A long ball out of defence found Stolcers on the left where Matt Barrass and Lee Unsworth allowed the Latvian - on loan from Spartak Moscow - to cut inside and drill a low shot past Garner just inside the post.

The Shakers were enjoying much more of the ball in the second half and almost pulled a goal back after 68 minutes when defender Danny Swailes hit the bar with a glancing header from Chris Billy's free kick.

But any hopes of getting back into the match were scotched four minutes later in farcical circumstances.

A hopeful punt upfield seemed to pose no danger but a mix-up between Garner and substitute Colin Woodthorpe resulted in the former Stockport man heading the ball over his goalkeeper and Clark gleefully nodded into an empty goal.

Garner redeemed himself later in the game with two breathtaking stops.

Firstly he clawed away a close range header from Argentinian substitute Facundo Sava then minutes later somehow got a hand to a point blank strike from Hayles after the striker had turned the Bury defence inside out.

As the game drew to a close the 600-plus Bury followers roared their approval for their brave heroes' efforts.

And in stoppage time they were rewarded by a magnificent Newby goal that extended the club's run to 18 consecutive scoring games - equalling a record set in the 1960-61 Third Division championship campaign.

After good work from 17-year-old substitute Dave Nugent, Newby was out on the right wing, faced with two international defenders in Cameroonian Pierre Wome and Morocco's Abdes Ouaddou.

The former Liverpool man proceeded to breeze past the first and nutmeg the second before racing into the box and chipping an exquisite left foot effort beyond Maik Taylor.

BURY FORMGUIDE: Garner 8, Barrass 6 (O'Shaughnessy, 80), Stuart 7, Swailes 7, Nelson 7, Unsworth 6, Billy 7, Forrest 7, Preece 6 (Nugent, 72), Dunfield 7 (Woodthorpe, 49), Newby 7. Subs not used: Redmond and George.

REFEREE: Mr D. Pugh (Merseyside)

ATTENDANCE: 4,702