Manny Road End - An Independent Bury Fans Forum (you can speak your bloody mind on here)

2009-07-03

Bye bye Rivals, hello mannyroadend.co.uk

I understand the Rivals network closed down on July 2nd.

In its absence, Manny Road End is fully operational as always so anyone looking for a message board on which they can say what they damn well like is more than welcome here.

2009-06-16

Boing boing

Well its the Boing Boing Baggies in the League Cup and let's hope they bring a few fans down (up?) for the match. I'll be there with knobs on (or with knobs to my left and right If i'm joined by Tim and Phil) as i'll be at a wedding on the opening day of the season so this'll be my first game.

We had some decent games against West Brom when we were in the old first division. I remember them breaking our 'year unbeaten at home' record (Peshisolido hat-trick possibly) and then Tony Ellis scoring at The Hawthorns in a 1-1 draw. Can't remember the home result in the following season but we lost 1-0 at their place in the penultimate game.

Bring them on. Should be a good early test for our boys.

2009-05-28

ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha

I was delighted to see the dirty red scum totally outplayed in Rome last night. Maybe that'll shut some of the fuckers up for a bit. Best in the world my arse.

FA Cup final on Saturday: Chelsea vs Everton and I honestly couldn't care less who wins - which is great because it means I can sit back and enjoy it. If I was going for a prediction, though, i'd say 2-1 to Chelsea.

2009-05-27

Its all over

I made this comment on this blog before the first of the play-off games, "I think we'll get a good away result and then lose at Gigg next Sunday and I still reckon it will be Gillingham who go up." How great am I? Just wish i'd put a bet on it.

Anyway, it was indeed Gillingham promoted to League One and well done to them. I'd fancied them to win the playoffs since we played them in match 45 of the season.

In the other playoffs, it was wins for Scunthorpe over Millwall and Burnley over Sheffield United. I've a few mates who are Dingles and I hate Sheffield United so I was pretty pleased with that. Not only that but next season, SIX of the twenty Premier League teams will be Lancashire sides. How many Yorkshire clubs will there be in the Prem?

Looking back, its been a phenomenal season and next year it should be good. Not only will we get our annual trip to Rochdale, but I fancy us for the championship, I'm actually going to put money on it. Alan Knill's done an amazing job and unsurprisingly, he has already been linked with other jobs - Blackpool specifically, but they announced their new manager last week, so that's gone away until the next one.

Andy Bishop's had surgery on his knee and hopefully we'll finally get a fully fit Bish next year, I don't think we've ever seen him in 100% full fitness, so if we don't sell him maybe he'll show us what he's capable of.

Its the Champions League final tonight and we're all rooting for Barca I would hope. We can't have those dirty red bastards winning it again.

2009-05-12

Play Off semi Second Leg: Fallen at the final hurdle (before the next hurdle that is)

Anyone who was at Gigg Lane on Sunday will have seen a football match which will live long in the memory.

Right from the start, the overall feeling amongst most of the Bury contingent was one of nerves. I felt physically sick. I suppose that comes from 5 or 6 years of being really shit, but never really being in that much danger of going down and suddenly we're in a position where we're going into a match where its not about three points or one-upmanship, there was a massive prize for one of the teams and that made it quite an unpleaseant feeling for me at least, and I suspect one or two others aswell.

I think what made it worse was the expectation. Being at home having won the away leg meant that by rights it should have been Bury winning the tie overall, but we still had to do the business and in that task, we ultimately failed.

The crowd was not what I was expecting. The South Stand had plenty of empty seats. I was expecting the same number of Bury fans who came to the Accrington match,plus a massive away following. There were even some empty seats in the Manny Road End, I'd have thought Shrewsbury would have sold out. Funny isn't it, being disapointed with a crowd of over seven and a half thousand?

Well the match was okay, It didn't pan out as I had expected. I thought Shrewsbury would be all over us but the balance of play was pretty even although once again, they had the better chances with Wayne Brown pulling off one or two great saves. The best chance of the half though fell to Bury after the excellent Andy Morrell was manhandled in the box. Phil Jevons earned himself the right to fuck off straight back to Huddersfield with a horribly weak effort from the penalty spot and that should have been the moment that had us all searching for cheap B&Bs in the London area in two weeks time.

The second half slowly petered out to a nil nil draw. Or did it? No. It fucking didn't. It would have done but for an error from David Buchanan, scuffing an attempted overhead clearance to a Shrewsbury player who cracked the loose ball into the bottom corner of the net to effectively send the game into extra time with just three minutes left.

I'd been clock-watching since half time and I had seen the scoreboard go very very slowly to fifty, sixty, seventy minutes, eighty had come and gone and yet still we were too nervous tostart singing 'Wemberlee, Wemberlee . . '. And then with time almost up, the inevitable happened.

Extra time was just as hard to watch, but the Bury players were excvellent in their quest for a winner. In fact they played some of the best football I have ever seen at Gigg Lane - opening them up time after time. If it weren't for the wastefulness of Andy Bishop, we'd have got the goal, maybe even gone on to win the game but he wasted chance after chance after chance. It wasn't just him either, but he's paid very good money to score and with the number of opportunities he had, we shouldn't have had to endure the penalty shoot-out that followed.

I've only ever seen a handfull of games go to extra time at Gigg and even fewer go to penalties. I remember losing 3-0 to Bolton in a league cup tie in about 1989/90 in what must go down as one of the worst penalty kicking diaplays ever, and we beat Bishop Auckland 4-2 in the early nineties. We also had penalties against some none league side a few years back, but I can't remember who it was. Telford Perhaps?

This penalty competition took place in front of the away fans. This was not up for discussion apparrently which seems odd to me. It must have been the ref or the Sky TV folk who called that one. Anyway to cut a long and painful story short, Barry-Murphy scored, they scored, Jones scored, they scored, anny Racchi missed, they scored, Bennett scored, they scored and then Bishop strode up for what I correctly predicted would be the last kick of our season.

We went to the pub. We were bitterly disapointed. For the rest of that day, we re all thinking of what might have been. What if we'd scored 2 against Accrington, or Jevo had put his penalty away, or Buchanan had cleared the ball properly in the 87 minute or we'd scored just one of those fantastic chances in extra time ... For me, the disapointment lasted perhaps 24 hours and then had been replaced by sheer elation at what a fantastic season we've had.

How far this club has come in 16 months since Alan Knill took over! Crowds are up, confidence and good feeling is sky high, we have good players and a sensible, capable manager. I'll be putting at least a tenner on us winning the championship next season. Obviously we'll strengthen, one or two will leave. I really hope we keep hold of our core of best players - Dawson, Futcher, Barry-Murphy, Sodje, Jones, Morrell. If we lose Brown, as has been rumoured, I hope we sign Mark Tyler from Peterborough. I hope we see more of Racchi. I hope we get some decent strikers in and get a decent price for Bishop.

Well done Bury on a phenomenal season. I cannot wait for next season. Its going to be a treat.

2009-05-08

Play Off semi First Leg: A slender advantage to Bury

Well i'd never watched us live on telly before and i'd much rather be there. It does give a somewhat different perspective though, plus a closer look at some of the players. That Wayne Brown isn't going to win any beauty awards is he?

For periods we played well, really well, but on the whole Shrewsbury were the better side in terms of posession and chances. However, we defended well and one or two refereeing decisions went our way (Futch could have been sent off) and the record books will forever show that we won.

It sets it up nicely for the second leg where Shrewsbury will be well up for it and will attack from the start. They will score too as they should have in the first leg.

In the other semi, its slight advantage to Gillingham after they drew nil nil at Rochdale.

2009-05-05

So near, yet so far.

Well in the end, we missed out on automatic promotion by a single goal. If we'd beaten Accrington 2-0, we'd have gone up instead of Wycombe. I don't even want to talk about Chester at home, or away for that matter.

So its the playoffs for Bury and we'll be up against Shrewsbury Town, a club which is bound to be buzzing after sneaking into the playoffs with a magnificent last day victory at Dagenham & Redbridge. Bury, meanwhile, have to regroup and get ready for two really tough games. Having said that, its not exactly going to be easy for our opponents - we're going into these games on the back of 12 unbeaten having not conceeded in three. I wouldn't bet against us. Then again, I think we'll get a good away result and then lose at Gigg next Sunday and I still reckon it will be Gillingham who go up.

Final League Table (top 7)

Pos	Team	Pld	GD	Pts
1	Brentford	46	29	85
2	Exeter	46	15	79
3	Wycombe	46	21	78
4	Bury	46	20	78
5	Gillingham	46	3	75
6	Rochdale	46	11	70
7	Shrewsbury	46	17	69

So our final stats were 14 wins, 4 draws and 5 defeats at Gigg Lane where we scored 36 and let in 19. Away from Gigg we won 7, drew 11 and lost just 5 games scoring 27 and conceeding 24. That's a positive goal difference of 20 and 78 points on the board.

Alan Knill's record as Bury Manager (league games only)

Season	Pld	W	D	L	F	A	GD	Pts
2007/08	18	10	4	4	27	17	+10	34
2008/09	46	21	15	10	63	43	+20	78
TOTAL	64	31	19	14	90	60	+30	112

That's a pretty good record, with a total points per game average of 1.75.

2009-05-01

The day before the big match

I'm nervous but very excited. I think we'll do it.

My Predictions:
Bury 3 Accrington 0
Rotherham 1 Exeter 1
Wycombe 2 Notts County 1

If we don't beat Accrington, we don't deserve to go up and if results go against us, I think Gillingham will go up through the playoffs.

COME ON BURY!

2009-04-27

45 games gone, one to go and we're definitley not going down

Well we all trekked down to Gillingham and we got a point. It would have been nice to get three but if you'd seen the game, you'd know that that was never going to happen.

League Table going into the last match:

Pos	Team	Pld	GD	Pos
1 (CH)	Brentford	45	27	82
2	Wycombe	45	22	78
3	Exeter	45	14	76
4	Bury	45	19	75

We now know what's what. Brentford are up as champions and well done to them. So the final automatic promotion places will go to two from Wycombe, Exeter and Bury.If Wycombe get a point from their home game with Notts County, they're up. If they lose, they could be caught but I think that's unlikely. So it really is down to Exeter and Bury going for the final promotion place.

If Exeter win at Rotherham, they're up and we're in the playoffs. If they fail to beat Rotherham, we can grab third spot by beating Accrington.

Its so incredibly close. When you think back to some of the games which got away this season you think of . .
1) Aldershot away. 3-0 up with 20 minutes left - finished 3-3.
2) Chester at home - last minute equaliser gave them a 1-1 draw.
3) Dagenham at home - 2-0 up at half time and two massive chances to score. Two quick away goals made it 2-2.
4) Morecambe away - we battered them and it finished 0-0.
5) Rotherham away - Had some really good chances to win it before they scored. Finished 1-1.

If just one of those results had gone our way, it would be so different, but every team can point to games which slipped out of their grasp so there's no point crying about it now.

We are in exactly the same situation as at the end of the 1995/96 season when we went into the last game fourth behind Darlington who were way at Scunthorpe and we had an easy home game. We went up on that occasion as Darlington could only draw at Scunny whilst we thrashed Cardiff 3-0 at Gigg. Later we all spilled onto the pitch as news of the draw at Glanford Park came back to all those people with radios. It'll be mobile phones this time but the excitement will be no less.

I cannot wait for Saturday. I actually think we'll go up, but if we don't we're in the playoffs and that's not too shabby. COME ON YOU SHAKERS!

2009-04-23

Hmm

League table as it stands - 2 games to go

Pos	Team	Pld	GD	Pts
1	Brentford	44	25	79
2	Wycombe	44	22	77
3	Exeter	44	14	75
4	Bury	44	19	74
5	Gillingham	44	2	71

This is after Wycombe won at Luton and Brentford lost at Dagenham.
So now we know more or less whatr's got to happen if we're going straight up: We need more points than Exeter. Simple as that. They play Morecambe at home on Saturday, then they're away at Rotherham on the last day. Morecambe are in with a shout at the playoffs and Rotherham are mid table but a good side. If we beat Gillingham and Accrington, we've a decent chance but anything less and its the playoffs for us.

2009-04-18

Exeter City in last minute goal pisser

It was all going swimmingly until the Grecians rode their bloody luck with a long range shot that hit the post, the Lincoln City keeper and went in. Fuckers. Still, a solid performance from Bury and three goals to boot. Mustn't grumble. Still fourth though and only two games left.

Pos	Team	Pld	GD	Pts
1	Brentford	43	27	79
2	Exeter	44	14	75
3	Wycombe	43	21	74
4	Bury	44	19	74
5	Gillingham	44	2	71
6	Rochdale	44	12	69

Tuesday's games:
Dag & Red v Brentford
Luton v Wycombe
Rotherham v Morecambe

We're desperately hoping for a favour from relegated Luton. I'm also hoping Morecambe win their game because they could get in the playoffs and their weekend game is at Exeter. A win for the Shrimpers could spice things up and make it tricky for Exeter. A win for Brentford and they're up.

You know, we might not go straight up. We may also fail in the playoffs but lets be philosophical about this. Ever since we dropped out of the old first division in 1999 under the leadership of the evil Herr Warnock, life at Gigg has been pretty shite. We made the third division payoffs in 1993(ish) but apart from that we've had little to cheer about. Very shortly after some of the worst league finishes in the club's history, we're now in with a chance of automatic promotion with just two games left. If we don't manage it, its still been a bloody good effort.

So whatever happens from here on in, I just want to say well done to Knilly and the boys. They've done us proud.

2009-04-15

Easter Monday wasn't as good as Good Friday

We've dropped back down to fourth again now. There's three games left although Wycombe and Brentford have a game in hand on everyone else.

Our ninth unbeaten game was a creditable draw but we needed to win it. We've not won away since Grimsby in February. Exeter, meanwhile have come from nowhere and on the basis of four points from games against Brentford and Wycombe fully deserve their lofty position.

Pos	Team	Pld	GD	Pts
1	Brentford	42	24	76
2	Exeter	43	13	72
3	Wycombe	42	18	71
4	Bury	43	16	71
5	Rochdale	43	14	69
6	Gillingham	43	1	68

Saturday's games
Brentford v Accrington Stanley - home win
Bury v Macclesfield - home win
Chesterfield v Gillingham - draw
Lincoln City v Exeter - away win
Rochdale v Darlington - home win
Wycombe v Aldershot - home win

So if that happens we'll all be in more or less the same position. Rochdale v Darlington's on Sky TV. Seems a curious choice but it suits us as it'll only put more pressure on Rochdale to win.

We've got Macclesfield at home and its a potential banana skin. Especially with Keith Alexander managing them. We should be winning games like that but who knows?

2009-04-13

Another decent weekend for Bury

Well Rochdale won - which was expected but still a disppointment, Exeter were denied a win at Brentford - which is a relief and Gillingham lost - which was nice.

Still third with four games left.

Pos	Team	Pld	GD	Pts
1	Brentford	41	23	73
2	Wycombe	41	19	71
3	Bury	42	16	70
4	Exeter	42	12	69
5	Rochdale	42	14	68
6	Gillingham	42	0	65
7	Chesterfield	42	9	62
8	Shrewsbury	42	15	61

Easter Monday's games:
Bournemouth v Brentford - away win
Darlington v Bury - draw
Exeter v Wycombe - draw
Gillingham v Dag & Red - draw
Shrewsbury v Rochdale - home win

I actually wonder if we might lose this one, I've got a 1-0 home win feeling about it but i'll go for a draw as that's what we usually do in these situations.
Have you noticed something? Rochdale always seem to play teams just after we've played them. Funny that, int it?

2009-04-11

2-1 vs Shrewsbury: a massive massive win for Bury

Now we really need Wycombe and Brentford to beat Gillingham and Exeter respectively. It would be very special if Port Vale could get something from their trip to Spotland. I'm no longer bothered in the slightest about the likes of Bradford, Shrewsbury, Chesterfield etc. We're now eight games unbeaten and there can't be a better time to do that. I said previously that if we beat Shrewsbury then we'd go up. Well we are going up.

2009-04-08

93rd minute Wycombe winner puts Bury 4th

Well fair dos, it was their first win in seven games so it was due. We're fourth now but we'll soon win third place back as Exeter have 2 very tough games over the easter weekend against Brentford then Wycombe.

We really need to beat Shrewsbury and this is now a massive game for us. If we win this, we'll go up. Its sadly one i'll miss as i'll be in Bowness. Damn you, family commitments.

Friday & Saturday's games are:
Bury v Shrewsbury
Morecambe v Bradford
Brentford v Exeter
Rochdale v Port Vale
Wycombe v Gillingham

We'll win or draw, Bradford will draw, Brentford and Exeter will draw, Rochdale will win and Wycombe will draw with Gilllingham. So a good day for our neighbours is in store.

Every week, the top teams are playing each other and if the league consisted of the top eight teams it would look as follows:

		Home Games					Away Games
Team	Played	Won	Drawn	Lost	For	Against	Won	Drawn	Lost	For	Against	Goals	GDiff	Points
Brentford	12	2	3	1	9	8	3	2	1	8	4	17	5	20
Wycombe Wanderers	12	2	3	1	5	4	2	3	1	6	5	11	2	18
Shrewsbury Town	12	3	1	2	12	5	1	4	1	6	6	18	7	17
Bradford City	13	4	2	0	10	3	1	0	6	3	10	13	0	17
Exeter City	12	3	1	2	8	4	1	3	2	6	9	14	1	16
Bury	12	4	1	1	8	2	0	2	4	2	6	10	2	15
Rochdale	12	2	2	2	9	7	2	1	3	6	10	15	-2	15
Gillingham	11	1	4	1	6	7	0	2	3	3	17	9	-15	9

So Gillingham are the worst when playing against the top teams and we're not much better. Shrewsbury are shit away from home and have won one away game all season (the first one, against Exeter) but i'm sure another one's coming before the end of the season.

2009-04-05

Disappointing but still quite positive

Port Vale are a team we should be beating if we want to go up. Having said that, we're still in the automatic promotion places. Once again, results went largely in our favour with Rochdale losing heavily, Bradford drawing, Gillingham losing, and Shrewsbury also drawing. Exeter won and they're now second. Will they carry on winning and secure second spot? I doubt it. Their next two games are Wycombe and Brentford so I reckon they'll do a Gillingham and slip down into the playoff places again - but they're a real threat.

I had Luton v Wycombe down as a draw but they didn't play as Luton were busy winning the JPT and fair play to them.

The only significant midweek game is Darlington v Wycombe and a Wycombe win would put them second and push us into fourth. Normally i'd back them but the way things have been going, I wouldn't be surprised if we were still third going into the Easter weekend games.

2009-04-01

Results conspiring in our favour?

Well Wycombe look like they're determined to blow it with another poor result - a draw at home to Barnet. So we're still second when I really expected us to be third this morning.

Saturday's fixtures:

Bournemouth v Rochdale
Bradford v Brentford
Exeter v Dag & Red
Gillingham v Barnet
Luton v Wycombe
Port Vale v Bury
Shrewsbury v Grimsby

I think we can go and get all three points at Port Vale. Most other top teams should win the exception being Rochdale who I think will lose at Bournemouth. Bradford play Brentford and I reckon a draw is on the cards there. Wycombe travel to Luton and could well drop points aswell. Looking at the league table, a draw for Bury could see us drop to sixth - that's how tight it is at the top.

Looking back to our previous promotion in 1996/97, throughout the season I always expected the bubble to burst and our season to fizzle out. Of course it never did and we won the second division championship under the guidance of Stan Ternent, a man generally regarded as our best manager in recent times.

This year I don't expect it to go shit-shaped, I think in Alan Kinll we have a sensible, knowledgeable and talented manager who is capable of taking us up to League One. Of course we may end up in the playoffs and remain in League Two and if we do its not the end of the world - think back to the past four or five years and the playoffs seemed a distant dream. This time around I feel very confident of success for the Shakers.

2009-03-30

A good weekend for the Shakers

With six of the top seven playing each other and all drawing, plus a draw for Bradford, Bury's win over Bournemouth was like being given two bonus points. We're up to second now with six games left.

On Tuesday, Wycombe play Barnet at home, Exeter are at home to Port Vale and Chesterfield are at Aldershot. I'd expect Wycombe to win and go second whilst Exeter should win to close the gap behind us.

2009-03-26

Another draw, another decent result but games are running out

We got a very creditable draw at Rotherham which represented a decent result. Problem is, decent results won't get us promoted. Rochdale went to Wycombe last week and got an awesome result. We're going to need awesome results if we want automatic promotion.

Having said that, Rochdale went to Chesterfield last night and got hammered 3-0 so at least if the teams around us are going to drop points like that then maybe decent results will be enough. Solid and consistent, that's what Bury need to be.

The weekend's fixtures are:

Brentford v Gillingham
Bury v AFC Bournemouth
Chester City v Bradford City
Chesterfield v Port Vale
Rochdale v Exeter City
Wycombe Wanderers v Shrewsbury Town

I'd expect Gillingham and Shrewsbury to drop points. Rochdale v Exeter looks like a draw or home win but either of those dropping points would benefit Bury, i'd rather it was Rochdale though. We should beat Bournemouth, especially after the Chester result, whilst i'd fancy Bradford and Chesterfield to win their games. That's right, i've had to start taking notice of the Spirites now ad they look like sneaking into the playoffs.

2009-03-23

Probably the worst result of the season for Bury, but other teams keep doing us favours.

CHester looked like the worst football team in the league on Saturday and yet we failed to take three points. Rochdale were the only winners in the top eight or nine so they'll be buzzing and rightly so. Wycombe are now out of the top three and they must be the team we are aiming for.

Defeats for Gillingham, Exeter and Bradford have given us a boost but with tough games at Rotherham and at home to Bournemouth make me less than confident.

Still, we're only two points off the automatic promotion places with plenty to play for.

At this point in time, I think we're looking at the play offs but there's no reason to be too down in the mouth about that is there? Does anyone remember Chris Casper?

2009-03-19

Midweek results are a mixed bag.

Bradford are doing their best to screw up their season - their 4-1 defeat at Bournemouth was their 5th consecutive away defeat. Gillingham, however, are now second after winning at Notts County and are looking dangerous.

We're down to 5th now but its ever so tight at the top.

Saturday's games:
Accrington Stanley v Exeter
Bradford v Port Vale
Bury v Chester
Grimsby v Gillingham
Shrewsbury v Morecambe
Wycombe v Rochdale

So that's wins for Exeter, Bradford, Gillingham and Shrewsbury. Bury are at home to Chester and Alan Knill is reported to be 'cautious' about the game. What a refreshing change! In the past the likes of Chris Casper would have been saying 'This ones for the goal difference' and then we'd lose 2-1 at home. Even knowing Bury as we do, its hard to see us slipping up here as oft we have in the past.

The other interesting game is Wycombe v Fail. Before Gillingham's win midweek, I wanted Wycombe to win this but if they do, then a gap will start to open up between third and fourth - and we'll be on the wrong side of it. I think Wycombe should win it and at least that should put us ahead of Fail for a while but that game away at Gillingham on April 25th is looking like it could be a cracker.

2009-03-17

Another draw, another decent result (but are draws going to be enough?)

Saturday's draw at Lincoln was another decent enough result, but once again we've dropped points and we've also failed to take advantage of playing against ten men.

Still, Fail's defeat means there's now four teams on 61 points. Things are getting extremely tight at the top of the league. I've seen this before and its the team that shows the most consistency who ends up getting promoted.

I was hoping for Wycombe to lose at the weekend but they showed that they're not finished yet and with a home game against Fail this Saturday, I hope their good form continues. Bradford lost again as if we needed any further evidence that they're not promotion material and Gillingham drew with Shrewsbury who scored twice late on in a 2-2 draw.

Tonight sees a trio of promotion-chasing teams in action:

Bournemouth v Bradford
Brentford v Chesterfield
Notts County v Gillingham

I think Bradford could struggle at Bournemouth but should get a point whilst Brentford should win and Gillingham will be good for at least a point, probably three at Notts. This would drop us down to fifth. A lowly position indeed. It shows how far we've come in the 'Year of Alan' that we're disapointed to be fifth or sixth with just nine games left.

2009-03-13

Midweek results and the weekend's fixtures

Whilst a draw at Morecambe represented a decent result for Bury, it was overshadowed by Fail's win over Bradford which shows not only that they are clearly good enough to be automatic promotion contenders but that Bradford are far too inconsistent to be taken seriously. Exeter's loss to Bournemouth and Wycombe's defeat at Lincoln were other positives to be taken from Tuesday as was Shrewsbury's draw at Aldershot.

We're 4th again now but its incredibly tight at the top. The way things are going I wouldn't bet against Brentford, Rochdale and Bury going straight up and Wycombe having to settle for the play-offs.

Saturday's games:
Brentford v Wycombe
Exeter v Bradford
Gillingham v Shrewsbury
Lincoln City v Bury
Rochdale v Rotherham

I fancy Brentford to put Wycombe to the sword - a result which could see the Chairboys drop out of the top three for the first time this season. I also reckon Exeter will draw with Bradford, Gillingham will beat Shrewsbury and Fail will beat Rotherham. As for the mighty Shakers, I fancy us to get a win at Lincoln.

There's often a team of dark horses who have a late run into the promotion race and this last few weeks its been Chesterfield getting some fine results. Here's a thought, what would you think of the chance to get revenge for our Wembley defeat of 1995?

2009-03-10

Tuesday's games

I've got my confidence back a bit after the Rochdale game. Morecambe's next and its actually a really tough game, they're on very good form and Sammy Macc was manager of the month for February. We obviously are capable of winning it and if we approach the game in the right way, we probably will but they're a decent side and on top of their game.

Tonight's other key games:
Aldershot Town v Shrewsbury Town
Brentford v Barnet
Exeter City v Bournemouth
Gillingham v Darlington
Lincoln City v Wycombe Wanderers
Morecambe v Bury
Rochdale v Bradford

Shrewsbury will draw with Aldershot, Brentford will win as will Exeter and Gillingham. Wycombe could drop points at Lincoln who will be hurting after losing 5-1 at Grimsby. Rochdale and Bradford is an interesting one as Bradford are doing well at the minute and won 5-0 on Saturday so I predict a draw or away win there.

As for us, I think we'll draw at Morecambe. We'll drop a place or two but there'll be ten games left after this one and plenty of time to win our third spot back.

2009-03-05

This weekend's Matches

When you think back a few years to derbies against the likes of Manchester City, Oldham, scum and even Stockport and Tranmere, it a miserable and depressing thought that the biggest game of our season is at home to Rochdale.

Anyway, that's what we've got this weekend and we're so desperately hoping for a win, partly because to fail to beat Rochdale is like going out with your mates and being the only one who doesn't pull, and partly because we've just lost two games and are in danger of losing ground in the promotion race.

So here's the other fixtures:
Accrington Stanley v Gillingham
Bradford City v Aldershot Town
Dagenham & Redbridge v Morecambe
Darlington v Macclesfield Town
Luton Town v Exeter City
Rotherham United v Brentford
Shrewsbury Town v Notts County
Wycombe Wanderers v Chesterfield

I forecast wins for Bradford, Dagenham, Shrewsbury and Wycombe and draws for Gillingham, Darlington, Exeter and Brentford.
Bury v Rochdale will be either a 1-1 draw ar a 2-1 away win with my money on the latter. This is the time of the season when it all goes shit-shaped for us.

Of course the really big question of the weekend is - with a mid-day kick-off, what are we supposed to do before the match?

2009-03-02

Tickets for Fail

Tickets for the Rochdale game will be available to buy on Saturday morning, in case anyone's wondering.

2009-03-02

A bitter disappointment

Well we lost narrowly to Brentford as I feared we might. I listened to the commentary and it sounded like Bury played well and deserved something, also that we got very little from the officials. Anyway, omwards and upwards, we play on Tuesday against Chesterfield and this is a game we should win comfortably.

Other midweek games:
Barnet v Rochdale
Bradford v Macclesfield
Dag & Red v Lincoln City
Grimsby v Brentford
Luton v Gillingham
Shrewsbury v Exeter
Wycombe v Chester

I think there'll be wins for Fail, Bradford, Dagenham, Brentford and Wycombe with Gillingham dropping points and Shrewsbury and Exeter drawing. This makes 3 points for us against Chesterfield very important as we prepare for the visit of Fail on Saturday. Dawson will be missing for that one, but hopefully Richie Baker can come in a do a job in his absense.

We dropped below Fail after this result but we had the hardest possible game in the division whilst they had the easiest so its not too bad. We really need to beat them next week though.

2009-02-25

Darlington deducted 10 points for entering administration

Well its good news for the rest of us. Now its a real pity they didn't beat Fail last night.

2009-02-27

Saturday's fixtures

Brentford v Bury
Exeter v Darlington
Gillingham v Bournemouth
Macclesfield v Shrewsbury
Morecambe v Wycombe
Notts County v Bradford
Rochdale v Grimsby

I reckon we'll draw or even lose at Griffin Park, Gillingham should win as should Wycombe and Rochdale. Shrewsbury have a shocking away record but i'll fancy then to add to their one away win so far this season when they visit Macclesfield, Bradford are at Notts and I think they could be in for a tough time. Meanwhile Exeter play Darlington and I forecast a draw in that one.

So on Saturday night, we'll be fourth behind Rochdale. Its still a good position to be in.

2009-02-25

Tuesday's results

Well the game we really needed to end in a draw was a win for Rochdale. It puts them a point behind us so they'll likely overtake us on Saturday because even if we get a draw at Brentford, they're at home to Grimsby who are shipping goals for fun. Rochdale, on the other hand, are becoming a worry.

Dagenham lost to Bournemouth though and they're now eight points behind us having played a game more.

Just a point of interest, Bournemouth are now only two points behind Grimsby at the bottom. I fancy them to stay up and send either the Mariners or Chester into non league oblivion.

2009-02-22

A good day for the Shakers

A decent win for Bury over Notts, was made extra special by the other results. Brentford beat Fail, Barnet hammered Bradford, Luton beat Shrewsbury and both Exeter and Dagenham drew.

There was only Bury, Brentford, Darlington and Gillingham who won so now we've got a four point gap between third and fourth.

Darlington are a bit of a worry because of their games in hand, they could overtake us if they got a decent points total from them.

The midweek games this week are:

Dag & Red v Bournemouth
Darlington v Rochdale

So at least one team below us will drop points with Darlo and Fail playing each other.

End of season prediction after 32 games: I reckon we'll go straight up, finishing 3rd.

2009-02-18

A fine set of results from Bury's point of view

The only result which went against us was Shrewsbury winning. They're now a point or two behind us but having played a game more. Rochdale blew it against Morecambe conceeding a 93rd minute goal to Bury lad, Michael Twiss. Wycombe won but at the expense of another team just behind us (Dagenham) and Bradford and Darlington drew nil nil.

All in all, a fantastic set of results and we're still third. I'm very happy about that.

The weekend's key fixtures:
Accrington Stanley v Dag & Red
Barnet v Bradford
Bury v Notts County
Chester v Exeter
Darlington v Grimsby
Gillingham v Macclesfield
Luton v Shrewsbury
Rochdale v Brentford
Wycombe v Rotherham
Of these games, I would expect wins for Dagenham, Bradford, Bury, Exeter, Darlington and Gillingham. I think Shrewsbury may come undone at Luton whilst Rotherham have a chance of taking points off Wycombe. The interesting game of the weekend is Fail v Brentford. I don't care what Brentford and Wycome do from now on (apart from on 28th Feb when we play Brentford away) so i'm hoping for as Bees win there.

I couldn't bear it if Fail went up - unless we went up aswell. Their game in hand on us is away at Darlington so i'm confident that unless we screw up in games like this one at home to Notts, we'll finish above them.

2009-02-15

15 Games to go

3rd in the league with 15 games left is not a bad position to be in. If we're still there on Tuesday evening i'll be very happy.
Tuesday's games:
Bradford v Darlington
Dag & Red v Wycombe
Gillingham v Aldershot
Macclesfield v Notts County
Rochdale v Morecambe
Shrewsbury v Chester

You'd expect Fail, Gillingham and Shrewsbury to win their games, but there's some interesting clashes too which will see other top teams drop points. I reckon Bradford and Darlo will draw, as will Dagenham and Wycombe. So we'll drop to fourth but sill still be in a decent position.

End of season prediction after 31 games: 5th place.

2009-02-12

Grimsby Town v Bury this Saturday

If ever there was a game Bury should be winning with no problems whatsoever its this one. Grimsby have been suffering from a sustained period of utter shitness for the entire season and if it weren't for the points deductions handed out in the summer, they would be Blue Square Premier league fodder for next season.

They came to Gigg and predictably beat us earlier in the season, and in so doing, racked up their first league victory of the campaign.

Bury, however, have been doing well of late and are getting results where in previous seasons we would have been going down 2 or 3 nil without so much as a whimper. Last Saturday's draw with Dagenham & Redbridge was disapointing but also quite positive. For not the first time this season, we started poorly and were lucky not to be behind before we scored two quick goals. Of course, we should expect the team to win a game from that position, especially given the chances which fell to Bishop and Morrell in a blistering second half period.

On Saturday, we make amends. Teams like Grimsby are there to be battered out of sight. WIth the right attitude, this should be one for the goal difference.

2009-02-06

Another Manager of the Month award for Alan Knill

He is the only Bury manager to have ever won it twice in one season. Well done Knilly and the boys. Let's hope that they can keep it up in February and avoid the traditional Manager of the Month curse by beating Dagenham & Redbridge on Saturday.

2009-02-02

Are we going up?

Saturday's result against Luton was highly encouraging. In fact the month of January was a good one. Four wins and a draw from our last five games has put us third in the table and breathing down the necks of Brentford and Wycombe

Were it not for a series of very poor performances and results in October / November we'd be right up there. We should have beaten Exeter comfortably at home so that's an extra three points and our performance against Rotherham was wothy of at least a point and that would put us on equal points with Wycombe at the top. Obviously you can look at near misses and other chances against other teams but beiong realistic, we should be up there.

We look pretty solid and with goals coming from a number of players, this could be our year. We've got a good manager, good players and 'unbelievable belief' amongst the team.

The fact that Andy Bishop turned down big money offers and higher division football to stay at Gigg speaks volumes for the future of the club.

Here's to an exciting second half of the season.

2008-12-12

Being arsed

I can't be arsed doing any more work.

I can't be arsed brewing up.

I can't be arsed with the journey home from work (but i've no choice).

I can't even be arsed going to Gigg tomorrow.

I could barely be arsed writing this.

The irony is that there's probably not a single human being alive who will actually be arsed reading it.

I can, however, be arsed making and eating my tea tonight. Curry. Hmm mmm. Washed down with a bit of lager perhaps. Ah look, my zest for life is returning. Oh its gone again.

2008-11-12

Mariners looking forward to their first win of the season?

Grimsby Town trudge hopelessly into Bury on Saturday, still looking for their first win of the season after 15 league games.

Bury would normally be a good bet for a comfortable home defeat in such circumstances, one of our specialities has always been losing at Gigg to teams who are bottom of the league (as Grimsby would normally be of it weren't for the points deductions handed out to other teams) but the faltering Shakers are currently on the crest of a wave - a wave of utter utter crapness, having lost our last FOUR home games.

It could, therefore, quite reasonably be extected to be the worst football match ever witnessed.

So will Grimsby get their first win, or will Bury finally get a home win? Who knows? Not me, that's for sure. I doubt I'll even go. Oh for God's sake, who am I kidding? I'll be there with knobs on, cheering my team on to a nil nil draw.

2008-11-06

FA Cup weekend

So the F.A Cup trundles into town this weekend . . . well the FA Cup doesn't actually trundle anywhere, it sits in a glass cupboard in Portsmouth but you know what I mean.

We've got Gillingham at home on Saturday in probably one of the first round's least interesting fixtures. Its one which could go either way really, I can see us losing in extra time at their place a week on Tuesday or getting through comfortably at home.

The F.A Cup though, isn't it? The Football Association Challenge Trophy to give it its full name, You know? The excitement, the drama, the BBC Cameras at some little known non-league ground on Sunday lunchtime? Hoping for a cup upset? Marvellous isn't it?

Meanwhile, i'll be in Cheltenham drinking beer, eating food, trumping and picking my nose.

Marvellous. Let's hope we don't get kicked out this time.

2008-10-25

Three home defeats in a row

Oh crikey, we've gone shit all of a sudden. We're only 2 points ahead of Rochdale.

2008-10-02

Knilly is Manager of the Month

Alan Knill has won the manager of the Month award for League Two during September. Well done Knilly, and well deserved!

2008-09-20

WE ARE TOP OF THE LEAGUE!!

League table as of 20/09/2008 . . .

Pos	Team	Pld	GD	Pts
1	Bury	7	7	17
2	Wycombe	7	6	17
3	Bradford	7	7	15
4	Shrewsbury	6	12	13

Enjoy the moment lads - it doesn't happen very often.

2008-09-05

Manager of the month

The league two award for August goes to Mark Robins, Rotherham manager and fair play to him. I'm glad Alan Knill didn't win it because we always seemed to lose in our next match whenever we've won it in the past.

2008-08-29

Rochdale away

Probably the highlight of the Shakers' season comes early this year. I say 'highlight', its only that because we've won on our last few visits to snotland. Will we continue that on Saturday? Will Bury make it four out of four or will they finally beat us?

It would certainly cheer up our neighbours to get a result, I can't forget the look of utter delight on their stupid ugly faces when they scraped a draw against mid table Bury last season at Gigg.

What we do know is that the thieving bastards will be charging us twenty quid each to lower ourselves to visiting their shitty little excuse for a stadium, add that to the cost of a few pints of ale in one their crappy local hostelries and it adds up to an expensive day out.

Still, three points should soften the blow . . .

2008-08-09

Here we go!

The new season is upon us and we're all excited. Look on the bright side, with three teams on minus points, we're not going down. Its quite feasible that a team could stay up with about 30 points this season so we should be okay.

But what about our chances? The bookies have us down as about 20th favourites for the championship at 40/1. Worth a punt? For promotion you can get 7/1 or 8/1 which is less appealing but realistically, the best we can hope for is the play offs.

At the time of writing, kick off for Bury v Brentford is 2 and a half hours away. LET'S GET READY TO GRUMBLE!

2008-06-17

Managers and that

The managerial merry-gan-roond (as geordies call it - probably) is up and running again. Sven's gone from City to Mexico (as if the chances of getting shot in Moss Side weren't enough for him he's going to try his luck on the streets of Guadlajara - good luck son). Mark Hughes has quit 'unfashionable' Rovers for big spending quick firing Man City, Mourinho's gone to Internazionale and i'd laugh my tits off if they knocked Chelsea out of the European Cup next season (as would he I'm sure). Chelsea, meanwhile, have got Phil Scolari who I reckon will win them the league next season and will chew up and spit out the English media in the process. He strikes me as someone who will take absolutely no shit from anyone. Should be entertaining.

2008-06-13

Stockport 3-2 Rochdale

Well the football season has ended and all the big issues have been sorted out. Man United won the European Cup because John Terry fell over, Portsmouth won the FA Cup because everybody else opted out this year and Rochdale's 39 year stint in the fourth division will continue for another year at least because . . well because they're Rochdale and what they do best is utter mediocrity. Just imagine, probably about 95% of Rochdale's fans would never have seen their team win promotion or even get close enough to get particularly excited about it.