With the 1st team back on duty today the duo of Kyle Lafferty and Chris McCann were absent from the team. Marc Pugh partnered Jay Rodriguez up front and Martin Reilly was pushed into an unfamiliar role on the left wing.
The weather was reminiscent of one of those lovely winters days down at Gawthorpe, with gusting wind and sporadic showers, but there was a healthy crowd none the less.
The early part of the match saw very little action in any penalty box. The Bury attack struggled to take advantage of the strong wind at their backs and the Clarets just probed away, looking for an opening. However, all we really had to show for it was a tame effort from Pugh and a misdirected free kick from Akbar, which floated over.
On the half hour mark though, that all changed. A Bury attack was repelled easily by the
Although the wind was causing too many forward balls from Bury to run on, one in particular caused problems. Mark Crossley attempted to clear a through ball but his kick dropped straight at the feet of a Bury midfielder.
Seeing Crossley off his line the youngster hit one from over 35 yards and was unfortunate to see it come back off the crossbar.
The second half was barely five minutes old when Pugh ran on to a ball into the right hand side of the box. He won a fifty-fifty challenge with the keeper and sprung to his feet first to win another challenge with a defender, cutting the ball across the goal in the process. It may have rolled in on its own, but with defenders lurking Rodriguez made absolutely sure, poking home from close range.
The Clarets could have put the game out of sight after 20 minutes of the second half. A though ball by Pugh found Connor Smith in the box but pressure from the defence forced him to falter in possession. Immediately, Bury attacked up the left wing and a cross was fired in deep to the far post where the late arriving striker was on hand to fire home. It really was a simple move from the young Shakers and again shows where we need to work at this level.
The game began to wind down following this though as the Clarets made some changes. With around five minutes to go it could, and perhaps should, have been all square. More indecision in the defence allowed the Bury forward in and he really should have hit the target, but we managed to scramble the ball away.
In the closing stages of the game Jack Overson was booked for a challenge from behind. The referee looked apologetic as he booked the young defender as he had won the ball, but it was deemed to be slightly reckless.
Team :- Mark Crossley, Rob Henry, Paul Casey, Jack Overson, Tom Blackler, Ali Akbar (Adam Kay), Martin Reilly, Connor Smith (Lewis Craig), Nicky Platt, Marc Pugh, Jay Rodriguez (Rob Turner). Sub not used: Gareth Clarke.