We’ve come a long, long way together

The Shakers had the run of the park against play-off-chasing Notts County – on their own turf – and romped home 4-2 winners, courtesy of four great finishes.

Schumacher’s post-match observation was very shrewd. Last season, Bury fans got used to resounding wins on their way to promotion from League Two, and Saturday brought all those memories back.

We knew that our first season back in League One after a lengthy absence would be tricky, but nobody foresaw the two tricky blips which saw Bury plummet towards the bottom of the league.

But the way in which they’ve answered the critics – some in the Gigg Lane stands – is nothing short of remarkable. It might come as some comfort to those critics that a chance return to the 4-4-2 formation has helped.

Andy Bishop missed the Easter Monday clash with Colchester United as his fiancée was in labour, forcing Richie Barker to play Shaun Harrad and Mike Grella as a front pairing.

Bishop had been playing in an arguably isolated position at the front, so this was a refreshing change. The fans had been convinced it was 4-5-1, Barker said it was 4-3-3. Whatever it was, the results just weren’t coming in and the future looked bleak.

A 4-1 win against Colchester later, and the 2011/12 season was looking a lot different on paper. The Shakers have taken that winning mentality forward, stringing together three straight wins.

Obviously, Baby Bishop’s arrival was a coincidence, but was it a stroke of luck? Barker had no choice but to change the formation and Grella has gone on to score four in three games. This coming from a player who came in and out of the squad faster than you could say “USA” when he first joined the club.

Bury only needed a point from their remaining three games to secure their League One status for next season, but they trounced a side looking for promotion on Saturday instead.

That tells me that we’re dealing with a team getting their confidence back – much like the team which secured six straight wins last season, catapulting them from League Two. The Bury of old.

Schumacher went on to say: “It might not have been as entertaining to watch this season, but we’ve got the job done.”

Nobody could argue with him if they looked back to the start of August and our first game away at Huddersfield Town. We knew that our first obstacle was to stay in this league and would have taken 20th place back then. We’ve achieved what we set out to and more, so we can’t complain.. or can we?

A great start to the season saw us up there with the big guns in sixth place after four games, but losing a few players and a bad run of form dashed dreams – we were 22nd six games later.

Some fans can’t help but look back at our good patches – we stayed in 10th for some time around Christmas – and wonder what might have been, especially when we’re hitting some great form at just the right time.

All I ask is that we focus on the here and now. We were the bookies’ favourite to make a swift return to League Two at the first time of asking, so we’ve defied their predictions as well.

We’ve lost brilliant players at key stages in the season, but we’ve dusted ourselves off and carried on fighting. We’re Bury FC – we’ve been through worse than this.

Saturday sees the penultimate part of a rollercoaster season and I’d urge any stay-away fans to get down to Gigg Lane and give a vocal pat-on-the-back to the boys in white. A local derby with Oldham should provide a decent atmosphere to boot.

Whether survival has come about in the manner you’d expected or not, we’re in League One for another season and have trips to Doncaster, Coventry and Portsmouth to look forward to.

As the season comes to a close – it feels like it’s flown by to me – just remember: we’ve come a long, long way together, through the hard times and the good.

See you at Gigg on Saturday.