The good times roll back to Gigg Lane as women Shakers are crowned league champions

manchestereveningnews.co.uk:

In a year of renaissance at Gigg Lane it was the perfect end to the season. Three years after Bury FC were kicked out of the Football League, a trophy was lifted on the turf.

Bury FC Foundation Women's team clinched the Lancashire County Championship on the final day of the season. It was the first tangible proof of a comeback after the demise of the men's senior side amid financial turmoil in 2019.

The women had continued to play despite the chaos, and suffering their own turmoil. In 2019 the club's ladies won promotion to the Premier of the North West Area League, gracing the famous Gigg Lane pitch with several games on their way to becoming champions of Division 1 - losing just once in 20 games.

But the ensuing trouble at the club saw an exodus of nine of the women's side and they were unable to take their place in the Premier. A painful slide in their fortunes, and down the leagues, followed.

As the club plunged into crisis, the women's team switched back from being financed by Bury FC to charitable funding - and did not stop playing.

Now after they are on their way back after their season finished in style on Sunday. They and rivals, Clitheroe Wolves, had broken away from the rest of the pack in the race for the top spot.

Clitheroe were the only team have beaten Bury all season - 3-2 at the Lancashire Club's ground. But on Sunday in the return game at Gigg Lane, Bury only needed a point to lift the title, while the Wolves needed to win.

Two early first half goals by Kimberley Tyson saw the Shakers win 2-0. It took Tyson's tally for the season to 41 goals. Sophie Coates scored 30. The statistics for the team were impressive: Played 18, won 16; drawn one, lost one; goals for 121, against 23. Bury will play in the