Rochdale were 2-0 derby day winners over Bury at the Crown Oil Arena, as Dale recorded their seventh straight win in all competitions.
Ian Henderson despatched a first-half penalty to give Keith Hill’s side the lead, after Matthew Lund had been tripped inside the area.
Nathaniel Mendez-Laing doubled the lead in the second half to seal all three points for Dale, before Bury ended the game nine men after two late red cards.
Keith Hill made three changes to the side that ran out convincing winners over Southend United last week, as Lund, Mendez-Laing and Henderson all returned to the starting eleven.
As expected, the opening stages were typical of a derby match and saw some strong challenges as both sides tried to get a foothold on the game.
Mendez-Laing was causing the Bury defence problems with his pace, and forced Ben Williams into a save when he latched onto a through ball down the right channel.
James Vaughan saw a looping header comfortably saved by Josh Lillis, and later provided a great cross for Neil Danns, whose header had to be tipped wide for a corner.
Davies sent a free-kick well over the crossbar from a promising position, as the play evened out following early pressure from Dale.
The breakthrough came seven minutes before half-time, when Lund’s run into the area resulted in him being brought down by Jacob Mellis. On his return from a concussion related injury, Henderson stepped up to send the goalkeeper the wrong way and put Dale ahead at the break.
The visitors started the second period brightly without testing Lillis, with only Vaughan’s effort which flew well over the crossbar to show for it.
Henderson had a close range effort blocked after a set-piece was only partially cleared. The rebound looped into the path of Mendez-Laing whose volley had to be tipped over by Williams.
Vaughan did have the ball in the back of the net for Bury just after the hour mark when he turned in Mellis’ effort, but he was in an offside position.
Andy Cannon replaced Steven Davies midway through the half, and he provided Dale’s second just four minutes later.
He turned away neatly from a Bury midfielder and picked out Mendez-Laing on the right side of the area. The forward took his time and placed an effort past Williams into the far corner to double the lead.
Two minutes later did, Kean Bryan was shown a red card after he went in strongly and late on Cannon, and referee Peter Banks showed no hesitation in dismissing the Bury man.
The red card was show again four minutes from time, when Mellis was dismissed for a second bookable offence after a foul on Calvin Andrew. His first had been for dissent after the first-half penalty decision.
Sanmi Odelusi replaced Mendez-Laing with two minutes remaining, with the scorer of Dale’s second going off to a standing ovation.
Cannon had an effort saved in five minutes of injury time that were added, as Dale saw out the game comfortably for a sixth consecutive league win, which puts them fourth in the League One table.