Bury were left staring relegation in the face after going down to a late Fabian De Freitas goal.

The Shakers must now rely on other results on the final day of the season to decide their fate.

The game was delayed for 15 minutes after a suspect package was found in a pub car park outside the ground.

Albion opened like a steam train and were nearly handed a dream start when 31-goal striker Lee Hughes glanced Richard Sneekes' cross goalward only for Bury keeper Dean Kiely to push it wide.

Kiely was called into action again with just two minutes on the clock when Sneekes reacted quickest to the loose ball but his rifled shot was again beaten away.

Bury had their own agenda to take care of with a relegation battle to fight and Laurent D'Jaffo and Adrian Littlejohn could have done better with half chances.

It was another Littlejohn raid that created space for midfielder Darren Bullock but again Phil Whitehead was left with a comfortable save.

Albion simply could not get going after their blistering start and a clear-cut chance looked a long way away.

Sneekes looked to have worked an opening on 35 minutes after neat work by Hughes but he sliced his shot disappointingly wide.

Bury's best chance of the half fell to on-loan defender Carl Serrant.

Whitehead's punch fell to Littlejohn out on the left who played the ball into the path of Serrant. He saw his shot pushed away by the keeper but unluckily for Bury no attacker could pounce on the rebound.

The second half began with an enforced change when James Quinn replaced the injured Kevin Kilbane.

The Baggies were beginning to force the play and Sneekes saw his curling effort fly wide.

Albion's Enzo Maresca was left writhing in agony in the box after jumping with Kiely but as the ball went wide so did the penalty appeal.

The Baggies almost took the lead with the move of the match. Jason Van Blerk played a neat one-two with Quinn before floating over a lovely cross but Hughes watched in horror as his header came back off the post.

Littlejohn and midfielder Chris Swailes wasted good chances for Bury before being hit with the hammer blow.

Sneekes got the ball out on the left and cut it inside to Quinn whose rasping shot was brilliantly parried by Kiely, but the ball fell to substitute De Freitas who lashed it home from the edge of the box.

De Freitas went close again as Bury poured forward in search of a crucial equaliser but despite late pressure the goals simply would not come.

Teams:

West Brom: Whitehead, McDermott, Van Blerk, Maresca, Burgess, Carbon, Flynn (Bortolazzi 71), Sneekes, Evans (De Freitas 74), Hughes, Kilbane (Quinn 47).

Goals: De Freitas 80.

Bury: Kiely, West (James 82), Billy, Daws, Serrant, Woodward, Swailes, Littlejohn, D'Jaffo, Bullock, Preece (Barnes 77).

Subs Not Used: Williams.

Att: 12,918

Ref: W Burns (Scarborough).