Goals in either half from Rustam Stepans and DJ Pedro gave Bury victory over St Helens based side Pilkington FC. The Shakers third 2-0 win in succession helping to close the gap on the sides above them, said James Beedie.
On their Remembrance Service match held on just their second Saturday home match of this league campaign Bury were given a prematch boost with the news three players were returning from injury.
Bebeto Gomes, Lewis Alessandra and Ruben Jerome all had to settle for spots on the bench as Dave McNabb named a largely unchanged starting eleven from last week’s win over Colne. Alex Cherera replacing Iyrwah Gooden the only alteration.
The home side started out as the brighter of the two sides. Powerful centre forward DJ Pedro making his home debut looked to make an early mark. He burst through the centre and past two Pilkington defenders, his shot however was blocked by the oncoming goalkeeper Jake Hilton.
Hilton was busy again after initially spilling a Sam Coughlan cross, with Bryan Ly looking to pouncing the visiting stopper quickly claimed the ball back. Down the left flank Pedro teed up Cherera to burst through and shoot. His effort looked destined for the bottom corner but carried on wide of the far post.
Cherera then turned provider. Another forward run delivered him into the Pilks danger zone, he spread the ball out to Ly who then knocked the ball onto Rustam Stepans who fired a deflected shot off a defender. It seemed the ball would spin out for a corner but the unpredictable flight of the shot saw it dip into the far corner of the net to give Bury a deserved early lead.
While the Shakers pushed hard for a quick second goal they were hit with the loss of Josh Gregory to injury. In his place Sam Coughlan moved to midfield and Bebeto Gomes claimed his usual spot at right back.
Gomes got to work early, a good passage of play between him and Ly opened up a chance for Stepans to shoot again. His low angled shot was pushed out for a corner by Hilton. Pedro also proved to be difficult for the visiting defence to handle, his header onto Cherera unlocked the defence but the chance was missed and would have been ruled out for offside regardless.
The first half onslaught continued, Ly ought to have done better from a pair of chances, set up from a corner his volley on goal was blocked by a defender while Coughlan’s neat throughball only resulted in Ly shooting directly at Hilton.
A Connor Pye cross was met with an audacious overhead kick by Pedro that went wide of goal. Right before halftime a Stepans corner found the rising Cherera but his header on only found a Pilkington defender who turned it away.
The hosts started the second half as they had ended the first by nearly scoring again. A perfect ball over the top by Pye found Bryan Ly. He tried to lift the ball over the onrushing Hilton but could only clear the crossbar.
The second half was at times a harder slog for the Shakers. While Pilkington had largely been reduced to optimistic potshots from outside the box in the first half they looked much more organised after the break. Bury’s troubles were then confounded when Sam Coughlan was injured and had to withdraw, the second centre midfielder lost in the match.
Pilkington should have equalised when a misplaced pass in the Bury backline let Nathan Salisbury in on goal from close range. Ben Hockenhull threw himself in to block the shot and the chance was smothered as Mitch Allen was called into action.
With the visitors growing into the match and the midfield looking more depleted it became clear Bury would need a second goal. Since coming on Bebeto Gomes had overrun the Pilkington defence on the right side of the pitch and as he latched onto a good pass from Ly he got in behind the defence again and lifted a cross into the box. Pedro rose highest to head the ball beyond Hilton and into the back of the net to make it a home debut to remember.
Gomes would again create chances for teammates sending in crosses for Stepans and Cam Fogerty though neither could keep their effort on target.
Bury couldn’t find a third goal that would have surely finished the match off as a contest but never looked in danger once they had scored their second. There was a late penalty appeal when Pye looked to have been shoved over in the penalty area in front of the vocal home supporters but the referee waved away any appeals before blowing the full time whistle not long afterwards.
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