The recent resurgence in the Shakers league form saw them approach today's game full of confidence particularly following their performances in the proceeding games against
The two teams started the day 10 points apart and Bury had STILL not scored in the first 15 minutes of any game so far and were still to score from any free kick attempts (penalties excluded of course).
The Bury managers preparations were severely disrupted this week by a virus that swept through the Shakers camp and Preece's final starting line-up was in doubt right up to kick off. As it turned out he must have been delighted to hand the team sheet in showing no changes to last weeks starting eleven.
The game today was the first league meeting between the two sides although Yeovil did have the audacity to knock the Shakers out of the FA Cup in 1949, although Bury returned the favour in1964.
The Shakers kicked off the first half towards the Manchester Road End.
Johnson had the first chance of the game as he outpaced Lee Duxbury but his attempt to curl the ball around Garner left the Shakers custodian with an easy save to make.
Two minutes later and Whelan curled a superb 25 yard free kick towards the Yeovil goal but it drifted fractionally wide of the top corner of the goal.
Yeovil were forced to make an early change when Williams was replaced by
Singh then needlessly gave the ball away as he tried to thread a pass through a crowd of Yeovil players which allowed Way to fire a shot in on goal.
A Singh corner was then headed goal wards by Seddon and cleared off the line by El Kholti and, as the ball was driven back in, there was a loud appeal for a penalty which was turned down by referee Jones.
In the 15th minute a very late sliding challenge by Whelan saw him become the first player to be cautioned.
Just two minutes later and Whelan was again involved in play as a Swailes cross was punched clear by Weale who then collided with one of his defenders and fell to the floor. As he was scrambling back to his feet Whelan lobbed the ball back in from 20 yards but fortunately for Yeovil it was scrambled clear.
A mazy Harpal Singh run resulted in another free kick on the edge of the box which Whelan hammered at goal but it was deflected for a corner. Singh put the ball into the near post area and, with Swailes closing in, it was turned behind again. The next one was taken short by Singh to Connell who returned the pass. Singh then broke inside the defender and was hauled back by Reed who was subsequently cautioned for the offence.
On 23 minutes Glynn Garner was mysteriously booked by referee Jones. He was taking a goal kick and had placed the ball on the ground just to the right of his 6 yard area which prompted the official to race over to him and brandished the yellow card!
Bury were exerting all the pressure with Yeovil restricted to fast breaks as they looked to absorb the efforts of the Shakers and adopt a counter attacking philosophy.
A Connell cross saw Gulliver get a header in on goal but his effort from a good position, 12 yards from goal, drifted wide.
In the 31st minute Yeovil surprisingly took the lead when from a rare corner a shot from Edwards deflected off Swailes and completely wrong footed Garner to ricochet into the back of the Bury goal.
Bury 0 Yeovil 1
In an almost identical incident a Singh cross took a wicked deflection but ended up gathered safely in the arms of keeper Weale. It seemed as if Lady Luck was smiling only for the visitors.
Bury were not to be thwarted though as they charged back into the game and just two minutes after going behind they levelled the scores. Singh fed the ball to Lee Connell who mis-hit his shot at goal but fortunately for Bury it fell to Nugent 10 yards from the Glovers goal. He was immediately closed down by the Yeovil defenders who literally fell onto the ball. The ball broke out of the melee and bounced towards the goal where it was hammered clear by a defender but unfortunately it deflected off one of his colleagues and fell to none other than Paul O'Shaughnessy who hammered the ball into the back of the net from 2 yards and set off on a 60 yard run to celebrate his first strike for the Shakers.
Bury 1 Yeovil 1
Bury nearly threw the lead away just two minutes later when Terry broke into the box and tucked the ball past Garner but could not beat the covering defence who hacked the ball clear off the line.
Johnson also had a great goal scoring opportunity in the 44th minute but was unable to put the ball past Garner.
The last action of the half was indicative of the 44 minutes that had gone before. Nugent, Whelan and Unsworth combined to move the ball swiftly from defence into attack. Seddon had a shot and amidst the resultant goalmouth scramble there was a distinct back pass by the defenders to the keeper but frustratingly no offence was signalled.
The warning signs were there in the first half for the Shakers as, despite being the more dominant of the teams, Yeovil were continually looking to swiftly counter attack and overload the Bury defence. The Glovers produced many effective if not ultimately successful attacks and their short passing interchanges often had the Shakers struggling to cope.
Manager Andy Preece would be reluctant to change things at this stage but must have been increasingly concerned at the difficulty that the Shakers were having defensively.
Half time Score: Bury 1 Yeovil 1
Yeovil emerged from the dressing room in determined mood and on 46 minutes Reed fired in a shot that was well saved to his left by Garner.
O'Shaughnessey then showed the negative side to his performances as he received his 10th yellow card of the season for needlessly pulling back a breaking Yeovil player.
Bury almost conceded a goal when Lee Duxbury headed back towards his keeper seemingly oblivious to the little matter that Gall was standing between him and Garner. With the goal looming the Glover's forward made a complete mess of his header over Garner and the ball rolled agonisingly wide of the Shakers goal.
The game continued to flow from end to end and the scores remained level only because of some desperate defending and poor finishing from both sides. Credit must be given to Yeovil who were taking the game to the Shakers to play their part in a very entertaining, if nail biting, football spectacle.
Andy Preece made his first change of the afternoon when he brought O'Neill into the fray to replace the tiring Nugent.
The game then entered an uncontrolled state as both teams were striving for ascendancy but could not quite supply the killer final ball. The play was end to end as the defences were stretched by the incisive attacking play of the teams. It was now not so much who could put in the most effort but who had the heart, desire, little bit of magic, or luck, necessary to steal the victory.
Gareth Seddon received a caution in the 83rd minute for what the referee deemed to be an over zealous challenge and then just a minute later Yeovil's Reed was dismissed for his second bookable offence when he blocked a run of Seddon down the right touchline.
The game deserved to be settled in thrilling fashion as opposed to an individual error and so it was. Gareth Seddon broke speedily down the right flank and after turning the defenders he waited for support. Who else other than Lee Connell was available at the edge of the box and he looked up and chipped the ball across the face of the goal. The ball seemed to hang in the air for an eternity before Unsworth beat Weale to the cross and powerfully headed the ball into the back of the net.
Bury 2 Yeovil 1
Yeovil almost snatched a point in the last minute of the game when a long speculative cross was met at the far post by Gall who, fortunately for the Shakers, smashed his shot over the bar and into the crowd.
The final whistle brought cheers and adulation from the Shakers faithful as their heroes had sealed a deserved victory with a glorious goal.
A great performance by both teams had the 3000+ fans thoroughly entertained for 90 minutes and the game was a credit to the division. Yeovil's performance may well have merited a point on another day but they came up against a team in form, full of confidence, and who had the determination to take all three points from this thrilling encounter.
Final Score: Bury 2 Yeovil 1
Attendance 3086 (449 visitors)
Bury: Glyn Garner, Phil Gulliver, Lee Duxbury ©, Danny Swailes, Lee Unsworth, Harpal Singh, Paul O'Shaughnessy, Glenn Whelan, Lee Connell, David Nugent, Gareth Seddon
On the Bench: Andy Preece, Joe O'Neill, Terry Dunfield, Colin Woodthorpe, Simon Whaley
Yeovil Town: Chris Weale, Adam Lockwood, Abdelhalim El Kholti, Colin Pluck, Darren Way ©, Lee Johnson, Kevin Gall, Stephen Reed, Jake Edwards, Gavin Williams, Paul Terry
On the Bench: Adam Stansfield, Steve Collins, Kirk Johnson, Lee Elam, Jamie Gosling
Officials
Referee: Mr M Jones
Assistants: Mr A McGee and Mr M Yates,
4th Official: Mr B Mort
