On This Day...24th October

As we did yesterday, we start today’s ‘On This Day’ feature with another freaky score line. An 1885 friendly game with Heywood Rovers here at Gigg Lane. A game that produced no less than THREE hat-tricks for Bury players with only five players amongst the goals. The result – Bury 13 Heywood Rovers 1 – with the goals coming from Pollock 4, Douglas 3, Rostron 3, Lonsdale 2 and Hamer.

FA Cup holders Bury played Stoke City at Gigg Lane on 24th October 1903 in a Division One game. 7,000 supporters were in attendance as Billy Wood and Chris Sagar scored the Bury goals to earn a share of the spoils in a 2-2 draw.

A 1914 Division Two game brought Wolverhampton Wanderers to Bury where 6,000 fans watched a thrilling game with Bury coming out on top with a 4-1 win, thanks to goals from John Lythgoe, Bob Perry (2 penalties) and Alec Mercer.

1931 saw Bury on the road and a local derby game at Burnley. 11,000 were at Turf Moor to see a 2-2 draw with Dave Robbie (Pictured below) and Wally Amos on target for the Shakers.

Queens Park Rangers came to Gigg Lane in 1959 for a Division Three game with the Shakers. Two goals from Don Watson were enough to record a fine 2-0 victory for Bury with 10,079 supporters watching the game.

Walsall were our guests in 1961 for a Second Division game. 8,863 attended the game as goals from Don Watson and Bill Holden (pictured below) were enough to record a 2-1 win for the Shakers.

A long 1970 trip to the West Country saw the Shakers playing at Eastville – home of Bristol Rovers. A five-figure crowd of just over 10,000 watched as a solitary goal from John Connelly was enough to win the game for Bury.

1987 brought Preston North End back to Gigg Lane for a Division Three game where a crowd of 4,316 supporters witnessed the best result of that season, with a 4-0 Bury win thanks to two penalties from Liam Robinson, David Lee and Nigel Greenwood.

24th October 1995 will be a day remembered for many years. Bury were away at Reading in the League Cup and had raced into a 2-0 lead at Elm Park. A heavy rain storm at half time forced the referee to abandon the game, causing uproar amongst the Shakers supporters and players. Such was the outcry that when the game was eventually re-arranged, Gary Kelly and Phil Stant ran onto the pitch with pitchforks in their hands as a subtle (or perhaps no to subtle) dig at Reading.

2009 saw Rotherham United at Gigg Lane where goals from Ryan Lowe and Richie Baker (pictured at the top of the page) secured a 2-1 win in this League Two game.

The last recorded game on this day took place in 2017 when Bury made the short trip to Oldham’s Boundary Park, where they lost 2-1 with Tom Aldred scoring his only goal for the club.

Games played on 24th October:

Season	Comp	Opponents	Ven	Res	Goals	Gate
1885/86	Friendly	Heywood Rovers	H	13-1	Pollock 4, Douglas 3, Rostron 3, Londsale 2, Hamer	?
1891/92	FA Cup	Heywood Central	A	2-1	Bourn, COnway	7,000
1896/97	Tier 1	West Bromwich Alb	A	0-0		5,000
1903/04	Tier 1	Stoke City	H	2-2	Wood, Sagar	7,000
1908/09	Tier 1	Woolwich Arsenal	A	0-4		15,000
1914/15	Tier 2	Wolverhampton W	H	4-1	Lythgoe, Perry 2P, Mercer	6,000
1925/26	Tier 1	Aston Villa	H	2-3	Amos, Bullock	13,043
1931/32	Tier 2	Burnley	A	2-2	Robbie, Amos	11,000
1936/37	Tier 2	Fulham	A	1-1	Matthews	28,000
1942/43	War	Everton	A	2-9	Davies, Potts	7,000
1953/54	Tier 2	Stoke City	A	0-4		19,250
1959/60	Tier 3	QPR	H	2-0	Watson 2	10,079
1961/62	Tier 2	Walsall	H	2-1	Watson, Holden	8,863
1964/65	Tier 2	Northampton Town	A	0-2		11,324
1967/78	Tier 3	Scunthorpe Utd	A	1-3	Owen	3,400
1970/71	Tier 3	Bristol Rovers	A	1-0	Connelly	10,982
1972/73	Tier 4	Bradford City	H	0-0		3,470
1981/82	Tier 4	AFC Bournemouth	A	2-3	Madden, Howard	4,894
1987/88	Tier 3	Preston North End	H	4-0	Lee, Greenwood, Robinson 2P	4,316
1992/93	Tier 3	Crewe Alexandra	A	1-2	Valentine	3,231
1995/96	FL Cup	Reading	A	2-0	Abandoned	6,034
1998/99	Tier 2	Sunderland	A	0-1		38,049
2001/02	Tier 3	Reading	H	0-2		2,808
2009/10	Tier 4	Rotherham United	H	2-1	Lowe, Baker	3,496
2015/16	Tier 3	Shrewsbury Town	A	0-2		4,945
2016/17	Tier 3	Bolton Wanderers	H	0-2		8,007
2017/18	Tier 3	Oldham Athletic	A	1-2	Aldred	5,183