Bury FC lived to fight another day on Wednesday after their winding-up petition brought by HMRC was dismissed.

An 11th appearance at London’s High Court resulted in the club being let off the hook after an undisclosed debt had been paid - the club expelled from the Football League in August staving off the threat of liquidation.

The news came on the day that the North West Counties League confirmed that they were considering an application from a phoenix club, Bury AFC.

Two weeks ago The Bury Football Club Company Ltd won another chance to sort out its finances with HMRC  to stop it being wound up over unpaid debts.

The company was allowed further breathing space after it revealed it had submitted returns and wanted another fortnight for those to be processed.

The Insolvency and Companies Court in London had also given it time to sort out a mix up where Bury had been paying PAYE since February on salaries despite not paying those wages.

On Wednesday, Judge Sally Barber was told by HMRC's barrister that the undisclosed debt had been paid and she asked for the winding up petition to be dismissed.

The club's barrister supported that move, as did the legal representative for the supervisor of the creditors' voluntary arrangement (CVA).

The judge therefore dismissed the petition with costs bringing to an end one of the longest strings of winding up court appearances concerning football clubs.

Many other clubs have faced action from the tax man in the High Court but few have faced as many appearances as Bury.