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| Two goals for Jason Gilchrist |
Terry Pashley decided to drop Alex Coleman and Steven Hewitt to the bench following their midweek reserve game, but there was no rest for Aryn Williams, Luke Conlan or Shay McCartan who started today at Gawthorpe. Alex Mullin was given a chance to shine in his favoured central midfield role with the wing berths given to Adam Evans and Cameron Howieson.
The game was slow to get started with neither side carving out even a half chance until the 15 minute mark. When it came it was us as Archie Love dissected the defence to release Conlan who cut in and dinked a cross to the far post. Williams was there to nod back into the mixer but no-one had gambled and the ball was cleared.
McCartan should probably have scored when he robbed the centre half and surged free, but a heavy touch at the crucial time allowed the keeper to smother. Jason Gilchrist also came close after a lovely touch and turn set up a shot from distance, only to see the ball clip the post and go wide.
Out of nowhere Bury had a couple of chances with Josh Cook reacting superbly to tip a drive around the post. He then had to swat away another shot following the corner before the defence cleared the danger.
The opening goal came from the pace of Evans on the right. He was released down the wing and took the ball to the byline. His cut back wasn’t accurate but the Bury defence contrived to present the ball to Gilchrist who made no mistake.
Just before half time we could have extended the lead as Gilchrist challenged the keeper, seeing a cross fumbled, but Mullin couldn’t get over the bouncing ball and his drive cleared the bar.
Half time saw a change at the back with Jack Errington replaced by Coleman. The defender had an inauspicious start as his ball out from the back was collected by a forward who ran at the defence and fired beyond the grasp of Cook into the bottom corner. There was an instant reply though and again it was Gilchrist who grabbed another half chance to shoot in through the Bury goalkeeper and restore the lead.
The game seemed to get a little tetchy after that though. The ref seemed keen to let the game flow and a few strong challenges were going in. McCartan managed to pick up a booking after a little rough-housing on the ground saw him take a punch to the rear end – I never knew getting punched in the bum was a bookable offence.
Pashley made his other changes with James Taylor and Steven Hewitt coming on for Evans and McCartan. The final 15 minutes of the game could have seen us score a number of goals but it just wasn’t to be. Hewitt shot wide after good work from Gilchrist, then the striker was guilty after being teed up by the unselfish Williams. Taylor found the keeper and then shot wide from his two efforts, before hitting the bar from close range in stoppage time.
It should have been more, but in the end the 2-1 result was enough to send us to the summit.
Team:- Josh Cook, Aryn Williams, Luke Conlan, Tom Anderson, Jack Errington (Alex Coleman), Alex Mullin, Archie Love, Adam Evans (James Taylor), Cameron Howieson, Shay McCartan (Steven Hewitt), Jason Gilchrist.
Sub not used:- Callum Jakovlevs.