Shakers flex their muscles

10:28pm Sunday 17th August 2008

Chesterfield 1 Bury 3

ALAN Knill believes Bury sent out a statement to the rest of League Two with his side’s clinical disposal of promotion favourites Chesterfield.

The Shakers blew their hosts away with a first-half performance of real dominance and class – one that yielded three goals in the first 39 minutes.

Ben Futcher, Efe Sodje and Andy Morrell, on his full debut, were all on the scoresheet before a shellshocked Chesterfield knew what was happening – and Knill reckons the result underlines that his team mean business.

“I’m delighted to come to one of the favourites to get promoted and win quite comfortably,” said Knill. “It was a massive statement, for two reasons really.

“Yes, it is early in the season, but we showed we are ready. We think we’ve got a decent squad and a real will to win.

“I think the other statement is that we are not a one man team. We had no Andy Bishop (injured), and we showed we can win without him. We try to take the pressure off Andy, and Andy Morrell came in and I thought he was excellent.

“We had a gameplan and did plenty of homework and the players knew exactly what was expected – they had to compete. And I think they did that immensely, especially in the middle of the park.”

Bury went into the lead in the fourth minute in the most unorthodox of fashions. Brian Barry-Murphy floated a free-kick into the box, Sodje headed it across goal to Futcher who hooked it over his shoulder and into the net from the most improbable of angles. Futcher claimed after the game that it would be replayed over and over again on television if it was scored by a Brazilian – he was probably right.

Bury were further boosted when Chesterfield goal machine Jack Lester was substituted on 14 minutes with injury, and the Speirites’ woes were compounded when Bury added a second through Sodje.

Not to be outdone by his central defensive partner Futcher, Sodje picked up a loose ball on the edge of the box and muscled through the home defence before planting a shot into the bottom corner.

The Bury blitz continued when Morrell scored what should be the first of many in a Shakers shirt. It was a move to delight the purists, with the Bury midfield breaking up a Chesterfield attack, giving the ball to Glynn Hurst who put Michael Jones clear down the left wing. Jones waited for Morrell to time his run into the box, before delivering an inch-perfect cross for the former Blackpool striker to covert with consummate ease.

Bury, who were rated as 4-1 underdogs by the bookmakers before the game, were three nil up and well worth their lead.

Lloyd Kerry pulled a goal back for the home side in the 54th minute when he rifled into the bottom right hand corner, but that was as much as Chesterfield threatened all day.

Bury supporters did have their hearts in their mouth when, in the same move, Futcher looked like he may have handled in the box, before he tripped Jamie Ward, but the referee waved play on and the Shakers were never really threatened again.

Knill was right, this was a statement. Bury are the real deal.

CHESTERFIELD: Lee 6, Picken 5, Page 6, Austin 5, Goodall 6 (Downes 84, 5), Lowry 5, Kerry 7, Harsley 5, Currie 6, Lester 5 (Robertson 14, 5), Ward 7. Subs not used: Carsen, Niven, Boden.

BURY: Brown 7, Scott 7, Buchanan 7, Futcher 7, Sodje 8, Bennett 7 (Racchi 83, 6), Dawson 8, Barry-Murphy 8, Jones 8, Morrell 8 (Cresswell 83, 6), Hurst 7 (Baker 57, 7). Subs not used: Belford, Rouse.

Attendance: 3728 (411 Bury supporters) Referee: Mr C Webster, 7 (out of ten).

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