BURY failed to follow up on their recent improvement away from home as they were convincingly beaten at Chesterfield, who secured their place in League One with victory.

Jay O'Shea put the hosts in front from the penalty spot before Lee Novak doubled their advantage on the stroke of half time.

And former Bury loanee Dan Gardner added a third midway through the second period.

The Shakers failed to create a clearcut chance all afternoon and gave the visiting 413 supporters little to cheer.

Manager David Flitcroft made two changes from the 3-1 defeat at home to Millwall last weekend.

Left-back Chris Hussey was absent from the squad while winger John O'Sullivan dropped to the bench.

Kelvin Etuhu came back from suspension to partner fit-again Jacob Mellis in the centre of midfield.

And it was Mellis who had the first shot on target as he gave Tommy Lee an early test from distance.

But that was as good as it got for Bury in the first half as they were forced on to the back foot by a dominant Chesterfield.

The lively O'Shea was the architect for most of the Spireites' attacks and he sent a 30-yard free kick narrowly past the post midway through the first period.

But in the 28th minute Cian Bolger barged Garry Liddle in the back inside the Shakers' penalty area and the referee had no hesitation in pointing straight to the spot.

Up stepped O'Shea to smash the ball into the bottom corner despite Chris Neal diving the right way.

Neal did get the better of O'Shea in the 41st minute when he made a smart save to deny the midfielder and Ollie Banks crashed the rebound against the post.

On the stroke of half time Lee Novak doubled Chesterfield's lead with a deflected strike from the edge of the area that crept inside Neal's near post.

Flitcroft was clearly not happy with what he was seeing and with three of his back four all on yellow cards he decided to make all of his changes at the break.

Reece Brown, O'Sullivan and Danny Rose were all introduced as Craig Jones, Mellis and Tom Pope were all withdrawn.

But the changes did not pay dividends as Bury still struggled to stamp their mark on the game.

Former Shaker Garnder, who was recalled from his loan spell at Gigg Lane last week, came off the bench in the 69th minute and four minutes later he slotted home the hosts' third to kill off any chances of a comeback.

From a Bury corner the Spireites counter-attacked and Gardner played a one-two with O'Shea before slotting past the helpless Neal.

As the game drew to a close it was Chesterfield who were intent on attacking as Gboly Ariyibi drilled a low shot wide across goal and Gardner was denied by the legs of Neal from close range.