Bury V Colne & Nelson

On the back of a hard-fought win last week, Bury travelled to Colne & Nelson chasing their first back-to-back win for some time. With the home side having had some mixed results of late, Bury knew that they would have to be at their best and get off to a good start in order to keep Colne at bay.
Bury were not to disappoint and started incredibly sharply. The ball was moved quickly from left to right through the hands of Will Smith and Tai Tupou, on to Alex English who darted down the wing to finish in the corner. A late flag from the home side's linesman was brought to the attention of the referee and play was brought back.
Having made a great start, the disappointment was not to deter The Rams, who having turned over possession made their way up field again with a fantastic break by back-row Jonny Allen. A series of infringements in the five metre zone saw Bury captain, Alan Dobson, opt for line-outs and were to gain their reward for such bravery after a rolling maul, powered by Oliver Fechini and Ed Watkins, allowed Wayne Elloway to touch down and open the scoring to give the visitors a 0-5 lead. The conversion was narrowly missed.
Following a ten minute period of high pressure, Colne & Nelson were to have their first break into the Bury twenty-two. This was to result in a penalty to the home team following over-eager defence. This was to be kicked successfully and bring the score to 3-5.
With both sides cancelling each other out the half was to play out with no more scores, but with some tough tackling from Isar Asif, Tom Smith and Joe Kelly, as well as two missed penalties from the home team from distance.
After a half-time discussion about game management, Bury were to again get their tails up and put pressure on Colne from the off. After a player was deemed to play the ball in an off-side position, Bury were to be awarded a penalty in front of the posts. Tom Smith was able to slot this home with ease and give the visitors a 3-8 advantage.
After growing frustration from the home side, the restart was collected by Asif who carried with purpose before finding Rick Rothwell, who was able to sprint up the left-hand line before being tackled. Quick recycled ball allowed Will Smith to make a break up the middle. Turn over gave Colne & Nelson chance to clear their lines and give Bury a line-out near the half-way line. This resulted in a catch and drive following a deadly accurate throw from hooker Alan Dobson and safe hands from Ed Watkins to catch it. The resulting drive led by Graham Bigg and Andy Townsend saw the visitors make close to twenty metres with a tight-knit drive, eventually pulled down by the home side. From the resulting penalty Bury again opted to kick the ball to touch and have another line-out. Again, the maul was clinically executed and in a carbon copy of their first try, Wayne Elloway was to again to touch-down for a brace of tries. The difficult conversion shaved the outside of the post and leave the score at 3-13.
Not to give-up, Colne & Nelson were to then have a period of possession and territory. Their big runners were to be matched by the big tackles required by Bury. Having been held-up just in front of the Bury post, Colne's prop was to be penalised for an early push in the scrum and this allowed Will Smith to clear his lines and relieve the pressure for The Rams.
The great chase that followed saw Alex English hack the ball on and with fellow winger Luke Cleary supporting; earn Bury another penalty in front of the Colne & Nelson sticks for not releasing the ball, when the opposition full-back was isolated. This was stroked over by Tom Smith and confirm the much sought after back-to-back win for Bury with a final score of 3-16.
Bury now travel to Ormskirk next Saturday, looking to build on their recent results. Kick-off at 3pm.