Bury 1sts 7 Bolton 3s 3

A fantastic opening 20 minutes of slick, passing hockey saw Bury overwhelm Bolton on Saturday, as they raced into a four-goal lead.

The front three of Simon Major, Luke Fidler and James Oakes combined to devastating effect, creating chance after chance.

Bury took the lead as early as the second minute. Fidler opened the scoring as he placed a short corner perfectly into the bottom corner. This was soon followed by Fidler’s second as he converted a penalty stroke, following a foul by the Bolton keeper on winger Ben Cooper.

A fine piece of individual play by Major, tight on the by-line, then set up Fidler for his hat-trick as he tapped in at the near post for his 29th goal of the season. And, with the clock yet to reach 20 minutes, all three of the Bury attack combined to play in James Oakes for a simple finish to give Bury a four-goal cushion. The visitors then visibly eased off, as half time came with the score still at 4-0.

It was Bolton who struck early in the second half to finally got on the scoresheet. However, James Oakes responded well for Bury as he netted his 40th goal of the campaign – a club record – with a neat reverse finish at the near post following more good passing play.

Although Bolton grabbed a scrambled second, Oakes soon sealed his hat-trick, with Simon Major then rounding off the scoring for Bury, as he deftly deflected in Fidler’s cross-shot. A penalty stroke in the dying minutes proved to be a consolation for a well-beaten Bolton side.