Match Report: Bury (A)

FC Isle of Man suffered late heartbreak away at Gigg Lane on Tuesday night as Bury denied us a deserved point. 

Sean Doyle scored twice for Paul Jones’ side, but a late header from DJ Pedro denied them a hard fought for result. 

The game’s first half chance fell the way of Doyle in just the second minute as Bury keeper Mitch Allen’s loose ball fell to him some 35 yards from goal, but he was unable to lob the keeper with what was a difficult skill to pull off. 

While Bury responded by launching their own wave of attacks, it was the Ravens who took the lead in the 10th minute as Doyle guided a header from Charlie Higgins’ corner into the far corner, leaving Allen clutching at thin air, 0-1.

Bury huffed and puffed a lot after the goal, but were unable to create any real chances as the Al Maitland and Jack McVey centre back partnership played a high offside line well, with fullbacks Callum Sherry and Sam Baines doing well to keep their respective wingers quiet. 

The Ravens felt they were denied a penalty when Adam Adebiyi was tripped in the box, but referee Alexander Phillips was unmoved by the shouts from the away bench. 

The league leaders were however able to win a series of corners and finally got their reward as Aaron Chalmers was left free to head past Adam Killey to level the game 1-1 in the 44th minute. 

Killey then made sure it stayed level at the break as he got down smartly to push Pedro’s flicked effort round the post just before the break. 

Second Half

Bury came out flying in the second half and could’ve scored when Connor Pye fired wide just moments into the half. 

They went close again soon after as Pedro tried an overhead kick but fired it into the empty stand behind the goal. 

After very few chances for either side, Bury took the lead on the 73rd minute as Rustam Stepans prodded home what was the Shakers’ 100th league goal this season.

However, the Ravens weren’t done and put together their best move of the game to free Sherry down the right, his cross picking out Doyle who again guided a beautiful header past Allen to make it 2-2 and send the already loud travelling support wild. 

The Ravens then had a chance to take the lead as the recently introduced Joao Marques picked open the Shakers’ defence to find Tom Creer, with him Set Whitley and Dean Pinnginton having a three on one advantage. 

However, as they bore down on goal, Whitley cut back inside and lost the momentum, with the Ravens missing out on a chance to snatch a late winner. 

From there the heartbreak that is football seemed inevitable as Bryan Ly lifted in a corner which found Pedro unmarked to power home a header to make it 3-2 to Bury. 

Our next game is on Saturday away at Glossop North End, kick off is 14:00.