HUDDERSFIELD TOWN 2 - BURY 0

RONNIE Jepson's happy homecoming lasted until kick off.

The ex-Huddersfield hero got a big hand as he was introduced to his former worshippers and could have had a big hand in their downfall.

But his bitter-sweet return to the McAlpine Stadium, where he helped shoot Huddersfield to promotion from the Second Division and establish them in the First, turned sour as he was denied a comeback goal at every turn in Bury's fourth game without a victory.

He posed the Shakers' biggest threat in a Bury display high on energy but low in inspiration as they chased the game after gift-wrapping Paul Dalton a seventh minute opener. He rekindled the memories of his glorious spell over the Pennines when his flick header from Tony Battersby's cross was denied by a crucial deflection from Kevin Gray before he pulled a low drive wide and unleashed a rasping second half volley from the edge of the box which home keeper Vince Bartram could only parry into the path of Lenny Johnrose who was thwarted by a last ditch clearance.

It was obviously not going to be Jepson's day when he finally headed wide with the goal at his mercy only for his blushes to be spared by a linesman's flag.

"I'm glad the flag went up, it was a bad miss," conceded Jepson who was equally disappointed with his team's end product. "We didn't pass the ball as well as we can," he added. "Our keeper was superb. He kept us in it and without him it could have been five or six.

"We worked at it but it didn't come off for us. Last week we were superb against Sunderland but this week we were poor.

"No disrespect to Huddersfield but they are bottom of the league. We raised our game against Sunderland."

Stan Ternent's men never hit the heights of the previous week on a rain-sodden surface which played some part in 11 players making their way into over-zealous referee Graham Laws' book.

"I think the referee totally lost it," added Jepson.

"I couldn't believe some of the decisions he was coming up with, against players from both sides."

With Peter Swan a formidable target man, Bury carved out a string of half chances to save the game before Dalton tapped in the clincher seven minutes from time after Dean Kiely failed to gather Marcus Stewart's wicked cross and Wayne Allison's follow-up was blocked by two defenders.

It was cruel on the heroic Kiely who had kept Huddersfield at bay with a stunning display of shot-stopping. He set the scene with a flashing reflex save to deny the clean through Dalton after 25 minutes and raced out to put the block on Wayne Allison in another one-on-one after a Chris Swailes gaffe had let the striker in.

It was the same story after the break with a flying fingertip save from David Phillips' brilliant 20-yard volley the pick of his repertoire.

There was nothing he could do when his static defenders allowed Dalton a clear run on to Phillips' cross to put Huddersfield ahead with their first attack of the game or when Darren Edmondson took the ball past him only to somehow miss the target 20 minutes later.

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