Bury...19ps Burnage...14pt

North Lancashire League One: Bury 19 Burnage 14

LAST year's fixture saw a similarly close finish when Burnage, on their own ground, had re-arranged the pitch size, giving a playing width of 80 metres.

This allowed them to capitalise on the talents of their stand-off half and outside centre, both former Rugby League professionals.

They played again on Saturday and with Bury's new pitch size, they could have prove to be dangerous.

Bury started brightly and for the first ten minutes dominated the line-out and set scrum. Stand-off Glyn Smith took advantage of a penalty kick from the half-way line and moved Bury to within seven metres of the try line.

A good take in the line and a fast ball from scrum half Livesey saw Bury miss out one of the centres and right wing Rob Wardle scored in the corner and Keith Webb added a fine conversion.

Bury lost Matt Fawcett with a groin injury after 15 minutes which saw Wardle move to centre and Mark Fielding take his place on the wing.

Bury were unlucky not to score again after 25 minutes when Darryl Stott, having made 40 metres, chipped the approaching cover and Burnage cleared frantically to some ten metres. Bury opted to take crash ball on Wardle when a two-man overlap was going begging and wasted the opportunity but then full back Webb added a penalty for offside at the set scrum from 20 metres out.

Bury went to the turn ten points to the good , but should have taken more advantage of the possession from the forwards.

Burnage are not a side to write off and after having a blistering half-time team talk from the coach, they were to exert almost constant pressure on Bury for the first 15 minutes of the second period.

They opened their account with a penalty from 20 metres from a decision by the referee which was patently wrong, having penalised prop Marshall for ripping the ball in the ruck when he was on his feet.

The referee, well-known to both sides, is on first name terms with many of the players, but unfortunately they won't tell us what the name is!

In the 52nd minute Bury regained their 10-point lead with yet another Webb penalty from 27 metres.

Burnage, not to be outdone, played a good advantage from a ruck and taking advantage of the good underfoot conditions, scored a drop goal.

With 15 minutes of the game remaining even this referee couldn't miss an infringement which saw the tight-head prop creeping round the side of a maul, and Webb knocked another penalty over.

The visitors were not in the mood to roll over and ten minutes of pressure inside the Bury 22 saw them release their left wing who scored almost unopposed in the left corner to narrow the gap to five points.

The spectators were convinced that Bury might fall into their old habit of previous seasons and let the game slip away as Burnage closed to within two points with a penalty in front of the posts after Wardle was judged not to have released after the tackle. In the gathering gloom any score would have seen Burnage run out winners, but with only one minute of normal playing time remaining, full back Webb added to his tally with yet another penalty from 20 metres to secure victory for the home side.

There is some consolation to be taken from Bury's performance if it is only sheer bloody-mindedness. When not playing to the top of your form, but to still win, is an achievement in itself.

The Bury three-quarter line has been crippled by injury for several weeks and as soon as players can return wins by large margins may be more frequent.

Man of the Match was Keith Webb, which proves the old adage that the first player on the team sheet should be your goalkicker.

BURY: Smythe, Whitehead, Marshall, Roberts, Kennedy, Westwood (c), Smithson, Robinson, Livesey, G. Smith, Stott, Fawcett, Loftus, Wardle, Webb. Replacements: Fielding (for Fawcett 12 mins), A. Smith (for Roberts 65mins).

Tomorrow Bury travel to the Didsbury, home of Old Bedians, where kick-off is 2.30pm.