10th September 2024
Bury Town vs Newmarket Town @ Ram Meadow - Bury St. Edmunds
Isthmian League North Division (Step 4)
19:45 KO
£11 entry
Attendance - 559
Half-time score: Bury Town 1-0 Newmarket Town
Goals:
Bury Town: Ramadan - 7'(P)
Bury Town: Horne - 57'
Newmarket Town: Chivers - 60'
Final Score: Bury Town 2-1 Newmarket Town
With Thetford Town not playing tonight, and with a game on at Ram Meadow, I made the short trip down the A134 to see my first Bury Town game of the season. With an incredible to end to last season, Bury Town started the league as one of the favourites, and Cole Skuse's team have lived up to this billing winning 3 from 4 and currently occupying the top spot. Opponents tonight were newly promoted Newmarket Town, currently failing to notch up any points, but having only played twice thus far so they have not had much of a chance. All signs pointed to a comfortable home win, but football is never usually that simple, especially for a local derby, so I was expecting a competitive game and a good crowd, but hoping for Bury Town to notch up another victory.
The game started in torrid conditions with the rain pelting down hard, causing me to forego the pre-match burger and also forget the match day programme in my search for shelter and a pint, priorities! One thing I have to mention is that 559 fans turned up, in awful conditions, and clashing with England's game against Finland, simply incredible, what a fan base!
Into the downpour, and with shelter and a good vantage point found, Bury Town lined up in blue, with Newmarket Town in their home yellow and white onto the immaculate green baize-like pitch.
KEY MOMENTS
BT = Bury Town
NT = Newmarket Town
3' - BT - Bury Town out of the traps fast, a dangerous ball is whipped in from the right, Canfer in the middle stretches and gets a touch on the ball, but the contact is not strong enough to divert its path towards goal.
7' - BT - PENALTY & GOAL (1-0) - Ramadan slides the ball out to Davis on the left, he drives into the box and is taken out, with the referee pointing straight to the spot. Prolific strike Ramadan steps up and slots the ball into the bottom left corner with consummate ease, beyond the reach of diving keeper James Young.
10' - BT - A neat ball over the backline from Horne finds Upson, who run had beaten the offside trap, he immediately volleys the ball from inside the box, but his effort is straight at Young.
31' - NT - A venomous strike from Josh Lee from the edge of the box whizzes just wide of the near-post, a corner is awarded meaning the diving Beckwith must have got the faintest of touches on it, if so, fantastic save!
35' - NT - Newmarket building into this one, a swift attack sees Foster through down the left, he prods the ball beyond Beckwith and towards the goal, but defender O'Malley is covering to make an important clearance.
37' - NT - Good pressing from Newmarket sees them win the ball deep in Bury Town territory, Cole unleashes a left-footed drive from 25yrds out which flashes across goal, just wide of the far post, close!
38' - BT - Canfer sends Ramadan through down the left, he cuts inside to the edge of the box and smashes in a lethal strike heading into the top left-hand corner, near-post, but Young is able to lash out an arm to make the stop, and concede the corner, great save to prevent Bury going 2-up.
41' - NT - Newmarket corner taken by Cole curled into the near-post, a flicked effort forces Beckwith to make a brilliant reaction save, tipping the ball over the bar.
45' - NT - The ball breaks for Newmarket's Foster, he flashes a shot across goal, the effort causing Beckwith to dive and tip the ball wide with his fingertips.
48' - NT - Direct running from Mingay towards the box causes chaos in the Bury back-line, some brilliant interplay and the ball finds Cole in the box, he fends off the defender, turns and shoots, I was expecting the net to bulge, but his effort is spooned wide, should have been the equaliser!
50' - NT - 30yrd strike from Foster skids just wide of the goal, but close enough to give Beckwith enough concern to get down and dive.
56' - NT - A long throw into the box is not dealt with and breaks for Foster, he has a couple of stabs at goal, the first blocked and the second going wide, looked another good chance that had gone begging for the visitors.
57' - BT - GOAL (2-0) - Against the run of play, Bury score their second, Ramadan gets the ball in a dangerous position inside the box, his effort is saved and spins out to Horne who picks it up and blasts it into the roof of the net from a tight angle, wonderful finish.
60' - NT - GOAL (2-1) - Quick reply from Newmarket, a free-kick from Cole, the ball comes down the left and is crossed into the box, where Chivers is on hand to slide it in from close range, game on indeed!
81' - NT - From a deadball situation, the ball breaks to Conway on the right-hand side of the box, his volley zips narrowly over.
90' - NT - A Gardner long throw is cleared back to him, he chips it back into the mixer where it falls to Eady just outside the box, he hits a snap strike but it floats wide.
94' - NT - Final chance for Newmarket, a Cole corner is met by substitute Gardner at the near-post, the headed effort popping over the bar.
A brilliant evening a lot less 1-sided than many people anticipated, and I'd even go as far to say that Newmarket Town were the better side on the night and were unlucky to go home empty handed, and this is coming from a Thetford Town fan! After a strong opening 10 minutes from Bury Town, Newmarket began to feel their way into the game and seemed to suss them out, and from the the 30min mark they were the better side, dominating the midfield and creating the better threats on goal. Bury never seemed able to deal with the strong direct running in waves, and fast pressing and were lucky to get their 2nd goal. In short, Bury Town were more clinical and took their chances, but Newmarket created enough chances to get at least a point, perhaps more than that. In the Bury goal, Beckwith made some great saves to keep Newmarket at bay, and was key to Bury securing the 3 points. Fair play to Newmarket, they faced-up against the league leaders and outplayed them and should be immensely proud of their efforts. Hopefully today's performance was just a blip from Bury Town, and whilst lucky to bag all 3-points, bag them they did, where they remain top of the table. Here's to hoping Bury Town can maintain this lead, and based on this performance, Newmarket Town don't look like relegation contenders to me. I hope to be back at Ram Meadow next week for the Suffolk Cup game, all the best for Saturday down in Basildon for what looks to be a tough but exciting game!
Line-Ups:
BURY TOWN: Charlie Beckwith, Joe White, Lewis O'Malley, Ryan Horne, Josh Curry (C), Ed Upson, Tom Thulborn, Ethan Mayhew, Cemal Ramadan, Ollie Canfer, Michael Davis. SUBS: Ryan Jolland, Reuben Truter, Joseph Carroll, Theo Carter, Oliver Kellett-Green.
NEWMARKET TOWN: James Young, Ben Robinson, Ryan Cole, Ash Walter (C), James Chivers, Jake Eady, Jordan Foster, Oscar Dean, Josh Lee, Ally Conway, Jacob Mingay. SUBS: Isaac Maynard, Will Gardner, Tom Williams, Jose Santa de la Paz, Stan Leech.
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