Isthmian D1 North: Bury Town 1-0 Heybridge Swifts

20th December 2022

Bury Town vs Heybridge Swifts @ Ram Meadow - Bury St. Edmunds

Isthmian Division 1 North (Step 4)

19:45 KO

£10 entry

Attendance - 404

Half-time score: Bury Town 0-0 Heybridge Swifts

Goal:

Bury Town: O'Malley - 76'

Final Score: Bury Town 1-0 Heybridge Swifts

Since the World Cup, the big freeze of this weekend and a lack of nearby Tuesday night games, it has been over 2 weeks since I last went to a game. When I saw that the Bury Town game was on, I jumped at the chance and nipped down the A134 to Ram Meadow. It was sure to be a tough one for Bury Town as they hosted high fliers Heybridge Swifts, currently sitting 4th in the table, whereas Bury Town were having a middling season.

Once in the ground, I immediately pick up a programme, another Bury Town classic.

Feeling peckish, I grabbed burger from the food hut, Bury always does a decent burger and this one was no exception, a tasty cheeseburger with onions and grated cheddar.

Following the recent frozen weather, it was a nice pleasant mild winters evening which made a nice change, and the pitch looked immaculate. Bury Town came out in their home colours of blue, and Heybridge Swifts were playing in red.

KEY MOMENTS

BT = Bury Town

HS = Heybridge Swifts

11' - HS - A poor backpass from a Bury defender goes straight to striker Wall, he is wide open on goal, takes the ball inside the box and shoots to the right of Bury's keeper, Woods, who somehow gets down to the ball to parry it out and away, a big let off for Bury early in the game!

25' - HS - A swift attack sees striker Wall through on goal, only a last ditch tackle from defender O'Malley denying Heybridge a golden chance on goal.

34' - BT - A Carlos Edwards free-kick is floated into the box, with ex-Lakenheath striker Avis rising highest to head the ball, his effort flying just over the bar.

42' - HS - A frantic goalmouth scramble sees the ball cleared off the line a couple of times, followed by a long range effort from Rob Harvey which is also blocked by a defender, nervy moments for Bury Town.

45' + 2' - HS - In the dying moments of the first half, an attack down the left wing results in a ball into the box which is met by Rhys Henry, he has acres of space in the box, but somehow steers his effort wide of the post, much to the relief of all associated with Bury Town.

67' - BT - Maughn wins the ball in a dangerous position and feeds in Avis, he shoots from within the box but his effort is deflected out for a corner.

75' - BT - Maughn links up with Avis again, he runs in from the left, darts into the box, opens his body and shoots, the ball surely heading for the top right corner were it not for a deflection, leading to a corner for Bury Town.

76' - BT - GOAL (1-0) - From the resultant corner, Carlos Edwards fires in a pinpoint ball to centre-back Lewis O'Malley, whose towering header near the far post is unstoppable. It has to be said that it was coming, and Bury looked most likely to score from a set-piece today.

88' - HS - A neat ball dinked in by substitute Kieran Jones finds striker Wall open at the far-post, perhaps not realising the time and he has, he somewhat rushes his headed effort and it goes harmlessly over the bar.

That was an hard-fought, competitive game of football between two evenly matched sides, both sets of defenders having the upper hand for most of the game. Truth be told, Heybridge should have gone in leading at the break, but they failed to convert the excellent chances that they had. In the second half, Bury played themselves back into the game, and were the dominant team for the majority of the half, the goal well deserved for all their efforts, and they managed to hold out well from the inevitable late onslaught to bag all 3 points, seeing them rise to 8th in the table. Heybridge Swifts looked a solid outfit, the two full-backs looking particularly impressive, and had they taken the lead, I suspect it would have been a long night for Bury. I hope that Bury can build on this fantastic win against a good side and push on for the play-offs, being only 3 points away now. I hope to be back in 2023 at some point, until then I wish Bury Town all the best.

Line-Ups:

BURY TOWN: Charlie Woods, Joe Hood, Carlos Edwards, Ollie Fenn (C), Lewis O'Malley, Joe White, Cruise Nyadzayo, Max Maughn, Shaun Avis, Joe Yaxley, Cameron Nicholls. SUBS: Charley Barker, Jack Maher, Max Wilcox, Harvey Mills, Ashley Boatswain.

HEYBRIDGE SWIFTS: Callum Chafer, Tyler Brampton, Louie Arrowsmith, Lee Noble (C), Ben Sartain, Ross Wall, Rob Harvey, Rhys Henry, Sam Carter, Jack Mochalski, Darren Phillips. SUBS: Andy Fennell, Jack Adlington, Callum Taylor, Joe Whitney, Kieran Jones.