14th September 2021
Bury Town vs Coggeshall Town @ Ram Meadow - Bury St Edmunds
Isthmian League North Division (Step 4)
19:45 KO
£10 entry
Attendance - 417
Half-time score: Bury Town 1-0 Coggeshall Town
Goals:
Bury Town: Horne - 7'
Coggeshall Town: Bantick - 89'
Again, Leigh Simons recorded the goals, see the links below on his Twitter account:
Full-time Score: Bury Town 1-1 Coggeshall Town
I decided to make the trip to Bury Town for this weeks Tuesday night fixture, the only mid-week home game that looks to be scheduled in for the entire season, which is a shame. For me, coming out-of-town, Tuesday night games at Bury are a lot more convenient as parking is easier and a lot cheaper. I really enjoy visiting Ram Meadow, the facilities here are second to none for this level, and the playing surface is excellent, so I am hoping one or two of the games get rescheduled. Bury have had a slow start to the season with some uncharacteristic losses, which is surprising given last seasons form, but bolstered by three Ipswich Town loanees, I was keen to see if their performances would pick up. In this game, they faced Coggeshall Town, famed for Olly Murs being an ex-player and now on the board of directors. They were also struggling so far this season, so this game was a big one for them too, so I was expecting it to be close.
I managed to pick up a matchday programme for only £2, and I must say that this is one of the best non-league programmes in my collection. There is a lot of detail about each team, a recap of the recent history between the clubs, match reports and tonnes of excellent colour photos and tables. Photo of the front cover below:
From kick-off Coggeshall looked the better team for the first five minutes, with some neat midfield interplay they were able to press deep into Bury territory and threaten the goal. However, against the run of play, a throw-in from the right flank found Buabo who pushed the ball out to Horne, he took one touch to his left to make some space and from outside the box, struck the ball hard and low into the right corner of the goal, 1-0 to Bury Town.
In the 10th minute, Bury Town defender Jolland misjudged a slide tackle, going in late, two-footed and with studs up against a Coggeshall player, who had slid into the ball half a second earlier. Some nasty looking contact was made, and the referee showed Jolland the red card, which, looking back at footage, I think was the correct decision. It was very disappointing to see as I was pumped for this game, and this had the potential to ruin the contest so early on.
However, despite going down to ten men, Bury Town seemed to get a second wind and were by far the better team for most of the first half, creating the better chances and looking defensively solid at the back, with Altintop, Hastings and Ipswich Town loanee Bradshaw all putting in a shift. Upfront, pacey and skilful Ipswich Town loanees Nwabueze and Buobo, were making a constant nuisance of themselves, keeping Coggeshall Town on their toes and making them concede a lot of free-kicks. In the 19th minute, a high ball in from Bradshaw was chested down and collected by Ramadan on the right of goal, and he managed a shot from a narrow angle, aiming at the near post, but was just wide, hitting the side netting. In the 36th minute, Chambers-Shaw chipped a ball over the back line for Buobo to chase, but Coggeshall keeper Cafer just managed to get there first. In the 37th minute, Buobo fed the ball to Nwabueze who made a run towards goal, and just as he looked to be through he was taken out, with the defender justifiably being shown a yellow. From the resulting free-kick, Nwabueze struck the ball hard and forced a save from Cafer.
In the 42nd minute, Coggeshall had a rare chance, from a free-kick close to the right hand corner flag. Kessel whipped the ball in and defender Grimes rose the highest but he was only able to guide his header just wide of the left post, close!
In the second half, as before, Coggeshall came out looking the better team, and they began to move up and press Bury, with their best chance coming from a corner in the 53rd minute, resulting in a goalmouth scramble that ended with a Bury defender clearing the ball at or close to the goal-line.
Having weathered the first 10 minutes of the half, Bury began to play better and put the Coggeshall defence under a lot of pressure. In the 54th minute, Nwabueze made another excellent mazy run, taking it past several defenders, and managed a 25 yard strike that went wide. In the 58th minute, a long free kick was sent up to striker Ramadan on the right flank, he managed to skilfully get round the Coggeshall defenders, run into the box and let off a left-footed strike on goal, but it was deflected wide for a corner.
Bury continued to have the upper hand, and in the 63rd minute, an excellent counter-attack led to a strike on goal. Buobo picked up the ball deep in the Bury half and ran deep into the Coggeshall half. Before he was closed down, he passed the ball to Ramadan who was running down the left wing, he looked to cut inside, but having taken out the defender, he slid the ball to Horne who was bombing down the left wing. With plenty of time and space, Horne was able to pull the ball back to Nwabueze, who was open in the middle of the box, he seemed to mistouch the ball but fortunately it found Buobo who was close to the keeper, and under pressure he managed to get the ball back to the onrushing Horne who unleashed a strike at the near post, but it was well saved and pushed out for a corner.
In the 66th minute, Bury launched a long ball up the right flank for Buobo to chase. Coggeshall keeper Cafer charged out to meet Buobo, and fearing he was beaten went for a slide tackle, missed the ball but wiped Buobo completely out, causing him to flip over. The challenge was another nasty one, and looked to be a certain red, but the referee only deemed it be a yellow, I can only presume because Buobo was offside at the time?
In the 70th minute, a good Coggeshall move saw the ball crossed in from the left flank, through to substitute Skubich who's header went narrowly over. Bury replied in the 75th minute with the best chance of the second half thus far, some neat play from Bury down the right flank was finished by a deft through-ball from Buobo to feed Ramadan, who had timed his run to perfection, he was through on goal, 1-on-1, hit the ball first time, and I was expecting the net to bulge, but Cafer made himself large and managed to block the ball out for a corner. Certainly another big chance that had gone begging for 10-men Bury.
In the 79th minute, there was another goalmouth scramble around the Bury goal, and it looked like Bury keeper Blair got a touch on the ball to send it safe and clear. After this, Nwabueze was substituted in the 81st minute, and with his threat removed from the game, the Coggeshall back-line immediately moved up, and in particular, right back Coley was now able to focus on attacking duties and started pinging lots of deep balls from the right flank to left corner of box for Bantick and the other Coggeshall attackers to feed from. In the 89th minute, this tactic eventually paid off, this time Grimes delivered the ball, it bounced in front of Bantick, he managed to get control of the ball, turned and fired a powerful strike into the farside of the goal, beating Blair. Conceding this late was heartbreaking for Bury, especially as they had played so well, and in the 95th minute, Coggeshall came close to a winner, the same ball from Coley was whipped in, it was headed on to Bantick, who flicked the ball onto the head of Francis, his effort hit the crossbar and fell kindly for Skubich whose subsequent shot was blocked by the Bury defenders. However, the offside flag was up, so if Francis' header had gone in, presumably it would be been given offside anyway. After a couple more minutes, the referee finally blew the whistle for full time.
Wow, that was a physical game, full of drama, but hard to assess how good Bury Town are due to the early sending off. However, despite being a man short, they created the better chances, and were unlucky not to have gone 2 up, or for Coggeshall to have also go down to 10 men, and the performances across the pitch were outstanding. I was particularly impressed with the two attacking Ipswich Town loanees, Buobo and Nwabueze, but particularly the latter, his pace and skill forced Coggeshall back for the entire game as they feared a counter-attack, and Coggeshall only pushed forward once he had come off. Coggeshall had a difficult time against a motivated, organised and dangerous Bury side, but they will be disappointed not to be going home with 3-points having played against 10 men for what was probably 90 minutes once you include the 3+7 mins of injury time. I am planning to see again Bury soon on their away trip to Dereham at the end of the month, so hopefully I get to see them in action with 11-men for the full 90 minutes. UP THE BLUES!!
Line-Ups:
BURY TOWN: Sam Blair, Joe Hood, Zak Bradshaw, Ryan Jolland, Baris Altintop, Taylor Hastings, Jake Chambers-Shaw, Ryan Horne, Gerrard Buabo, Cemal Ramadan (C), Jesse Nwabueze. SUBS: Carlos Edwards, Will Gardner, Joe White, Max Maughn, Oliver Snaith.
COGGESHALL TOWN: Matthew Cafer, Aryton Coley, John-Junior Wilson, George Cocklin, Milo Grimes, Jayden Gipson, Harry Critchley, Tevan Allen (C), Sam Bantick, Jermain Francis, Ethan Kessel. SUBS: Thomas Northwood, Tyler Christian-Law, Ross Wall, Isaac Skubich
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