Bury’s unbeaten run ends with 2–0 home defeat to Vauxhall Motors

Bury’s long unbeaten run came to a sudden and underwhelming end defeated 2-0 at home to playoff chasing Vauxhall Motors.

With DJ Pedro and Lewis Rawsthorn missing through injury Veron Parny would be in the starting eleven for his home debut joined by Luca Navarro. On the bench there was a welcome return for Connor Pye four months after picking up an injury in the away match to Vauxhall Motors.

The Motormen entered the day as the league’s top goalscorers and quickly had the home side on their heels. Josh Solomon-Davies afforded too much space was allowed to take a shot that deflected just wide.

At the other end the Shakers looked to start brightly as well with both Veron Parny and Luca Navarro trying shots that were blocked by defenders. Navarro came closer to scoring getting on the end of a long ball forward. He tried his luck though heavily marked and fired into the side netting.

The early minutes of the match continued to be quite open with Vauxhall Motors getting the ball in the back of the net. Mitch Allen spilled a shot and Kevin Ellison finished but the Bury keeper was spared as Ellison was standing in an offside position.

The Shakers were then caught out. Kai Evans had evaded his markers and was clean through on goal but the linesman flagged for offside when it seemed Yassine Toure was playing him on. From the resulting free kick the Motormen sent it long into the Bury box. Bobby Carroll miscontrolled the ball allowing Ben Holmes to snatch at the chance quickly firing at the near post to give Vauxhall Motors the lead.

Chasing the match Bury would have to break down a visiting defence that defended deep and packed the box with an organised defence. Evans had a shot blocked by Motors keeper Calvin Hare the rebound fell to Mo Touray but his attempt was deflected away.

The hosts continued to push for an equaliser, Evans beat the offside trap but saw his shot roll just wide of the far post while Navarro shooting through a forest of Vauxhall legs managed a shot that had to be saved by the keeper. Evans again tried to fashion a chance but a moments hesitation meant the Vauxhall area was filled with half a dozen players putting their bodies on the line to prevent any shot getting through.

The closest Bury came to equalising came from Navarro again. Forced to the edge of the box and unable to go further by the wall of Vauxhall players he cut inside and tried a shot that hit the outside of the post.

While the Shakers looked good in large parts they struggled to overcome hard pressing from the Motors defence and the tall strong visiting forwards were getting the upper hand against the Shakers defence.

After the break Bury continued to see much of the ball but their chances dried up as the visitors were able to snuff out chances before they came up.

Before too long the Vauxhall Motors advantage had doubled. Nathan Sandison got some separation on the edge of the box and shot on goal, Allen did well to tip the chance over. From the resulting corner however their chances dried ball eventually fell to Ellison at the net post who forced the ball in for 2-0.

There was little threat from the away side the rest of the match, they didn’t need to take the risk and Bury could not find a gap to exploit. A ball played forward would be lost as Touray was isolated up top, the usual snappy passing game was absent and little was played out on the wings.

The positive zip in the Shakers play of recent weeks was nowhere to be seen and missed passes and interceptions were far more common that Bury fans have come to expect this season. Frustration on the pitch and in the stands was boiling over with Bury looking increasingly out of it.

There were a few chances late on, a corner kick had the Motormen scrambling, Evans finally got ahead of the keeper with one run but ran out of pitch as the ball rolled out of play. Navarro had another shot from outside the area but straight into Hare’s hands and Bailey Sloane saw a header from a corner sail over the bar.

In truth Bury never looked like scoring in the second half and full time came with the Shakers well beaten.

Results elsewhere meant the loss wasn’t as damaging as it could have been but with key matches against other sides in the promotion chase coming soon the Shakers will have to rediscover their winning formula to keep the top spot they worked so hard to earn.