Buzzer Buries erm... Bury

Bury Town 0-1 Hendon
Ryman League Premier Division
Tuesday 23rd August 2011
Ram Meadow 

It’s difficult to write too much on a game that you watched through the medium of online updates through twitter and messageboards, but I would guess I was far from alone in giving the air a fairly animated punch when news of the full time whistle came through just after 9.30pm last night up at Bury. Time and work constraints meant that I wasn’t able to preview last night’s tough away match in Suffolk but just for the record, I had us down for a 2-0 defeat. Not the only result I got horribly wrong this midweek. (More on that tomorrow)

There was one change to the XI that beat Concord Rangers at the weekend with James Archer coming in at number 5 for Elliott Brathwaite and playing at right back with Ryan Wharton shifting across to partner Michael Peacock at centre half. Junior Lewis took Archer’s place on the bench. Going on the few reports of the game I’ve read and the video highlights (with thanks to BuryTownFCTV for their excellent video coverage) it looks as though we put in a similar performance to Saturday, but with added threat going forward. 

Once again, Jamie Busby was the goal hero, running onto Elliott Godfrey’s pass from midfield and firing a low 25 yard drive past Marcus Garnham into the bottom corner of the net (see from about 2:05 on the highlights reel). The Hendon website describes the strike as a ‘Busby special’ and it’s hard to think of too many in recent years who could hit a ball as consistently well as Buzzer. Byron Bubb could when he had the inclination (incidently, Bubb was spotted at Vale Farm on Saturday), and of course Freddie Hyatt. I would have to think long and hard before being able to name any others.

The goal came with 20 minutes remaining. This led to about 23 minutes of frantic ‘f5’-ing on various websites before confirmation of a second consecutive 1-0 win was confirmed and giving us an early nosebleed in 2^nd spot in the table, behind Wingate & Finchley (who recorded an outstanding 2-1 win over Lowestoft last night) on goals scored. Of course, it’s still very early days, but watching the highlights from last night and seeing bodies throwing themselves in front of shots, massed ranks of defenders between opponent and goal is very encouraging. Given the pressure we found ourselves under against Concord and apparently again late on last night would we have stood up to the onslaught last season? I suspect not. Just thinking back, after two games last season, we’d already witnessed a dozen goals but had just 3 points on the board. Which is the better feeling? That's pretty easy to answer. Gary has called for more steel in the side, for us to be harder to beat than we have been in recent years. I suspect not. So far, so good.

The other pleasing aspect of the win was laying to rest the Suffolk hoodoo that blighted us last season. Granted, the 2-2 draw at Bury last autumn was a good point, but our other two trips North East saw us lose 5-1 at Sudbury and 8-1 at Lowestoft. I didn’t think that we would be on the end of a hiding last night by any stretch, but in recent years these long midweek journeys away from home often seem to prove fruitless and often involve 3-0 defeats. Perhaps I’ve witnessed too many hidings at Tonbridge over the last couple of seasons. To come away from such a tough looking game with a 1-0 win was not only unexpected (please don’t take this as a lack of faith Macca if you read this), but actually gave me a real buzz that lasted all the way to bed a couple of hours later.

We move onto another stern test at Carshalton on Saturday. They came away from their match with Wealdstone with a 0-0 draw, which by all accounts, the visitors were a little unlucky not to have come away from the game with more than the solitary point. I’m going to focus more on the Surrey side a little later in the week, such is the fascinating story that continues to unfold at Colston Avenue, I simply cannot do it justice here.

Six points from two games, two clean sheets and very few in the way of direct shots for Berkeley to save is an extremely encouraging start. If you’d offered me that at lunchtime on Friday, I’d have relieved you of your wallet, n numbers and cleared your bank accounts before you’d had a chance to say ‘only joking old top’. Feet remain firmly on the ground, as I’m sure they do in the dressing room as well, but I hope you’ll forgive me for just basking in the reflective glory of an unblemished start while I can.