Bury Town are ready to prove their mettle against top-five rivals
Ben Chenery believes Bury Town ‘will be a different animal away from home’ as they prepare for their toughest test of the season to date at Canvey Island this weekend.
The Blues bounced back from Saturday’s Emirates FA Cup disappointment, as well as conceding a bizarre own goal after two minutes, to beat Cambridge City 3-1 at the Denny Bros Stadium on bank holiday Monday.
First goals of the season for Ryan Horne and Emmanuel Machaya, in-between summer signing Jarid Robson opening his account for his new club, swung the game back in Bury’s favour and made it seven points from a possible nine so far in the BetVictor Isthmian League North in 2019/20.
The Blues (3rd) visit second-placed Canvey, one of two sides still with a 100 per cent record, tomorrow (3pm), and Chenery, an FA Trophy and promotion winner as a player with the Gulls, is well aware that this early-season contest will challenge their top five credentials.
“Canvey Island I think should always be a team that’s knocking on the door of the top five,” the Bury boss said. “It hasn’t quite happened for them the last two seasons, but they’ve started well.
“We will approach things differently away from home. I think that was our Achilles’ heel (last season). We didn’t pick up enough points at times.
“We only lost by the odd goal, but staying in games for longer is key when you’re away.
“When I used to play, we’d have big clocks at games and I’d always look for 20 minutes to be down, don’t concede. Forty minutes, half-time, great. Get in at half-time, we’ve quietened the crowd down, it’s 0-0.
“After 70 minutes if you’ve not conceded you normally win away games, it’s really funny, because they get tense, they commit more forward.
“So we’ll look at that. We’ll be a different animal away from home this year. I think that will help us at Canvey Island, and teams that are pushing for the top five, they’ll come at us.
“I think that will leave us gaps with our pace and our legs just to exploit teams, but we’re under no illusions how tough it will be. If we don’t get beaten I’ll be a very happy manager, that’s for sure.”
After losing their unbeaten start to the season two days earlier, bowing out of the FA Cup to league rivals Histon, the Blues made the worst possible start against City on Monday.
Chenery described it as a ‘comedy of errors’ when, with barely a minute on the clock, Joe Hood missed when attempting to clear the ball and Robson’s clearance deflected off of Hood and past Daniel Barden, in the Bury goal.
Machaya replaced the injured Taylor Hastings in first-half added time, which forced the hosts into a reshuffle at the break.
But a new-look Blues responded when Horne sent a first-time shot into the net two minutes after the restart.
Now with their tails up, Bury kept on top and, on 54 minutes, went ahead as captain Ollie Hughes burst down the right and his low cross found Robson in the box to make it 2-1.
Barden made a fine save to tip over a strike from City’s Adam Watkins over the bar, before Chenery’s men wrapped up the points on 67 minutes.
Substitute Machaya’s electric pace left the visiting defence in his wake, and he finished past Lewis Landers to give his side a two-goal cushion that they would not let go of.
Neil Diamond’s popular hit Sweet Caroline was blazed out in the home dressing room afterwards, and Chenery will hope to hear it many more times before the season is out.
“That song signals that we’ve got a result, we’ve won,” he said. “Everybody, kit man, staff, physio, we’re all in there, because that’s the togetherness.
“Never underestimate how hard it is to win football matches, and when we do that we celebrate together.”
Bury host Suffolk rivals Felixstowe & Walton United in their first group game of the Velocity Trophy on Tuesday (7.45pm).
