Bury Town manager Ben Chenery confident returning Olly Hughes and Darren Mills can continue to positive impact

Ben Chenery believes bringing back veteran forwards Olly Hughes and Darren Mills can continue to provide the spark his Bury Town side need to turn performances into results.

Mills, who made 35 appearances scoring 10 goals for the Blues in the 2017/18 campaign, came off the bench in Saturday’s disappointing 1-0 defeat at a Witham Town side who had lost their previous nine matches.

The 34-year-old, who had returned from a break from the game with Thurlow Nunn League Premier Division side Ipswich Wanderers recently, then went on to score in a 2-1 victory at play-off chasing Felixstowe & Walton United on Tuesday.

He featured alongside fans’ favourite Hughes, who turns 36 this month and had played his first game in nine months for good friend Steve Holder’s Hadleigh United side on Saturday. It came after he had ended a seven-year spell at Bury at the end of last season to go travelling.

While the now eighth-placed side’s 19 goals conceded is the lowest in the Pitching In Isthmian League North Division, their 24 scored is the fifth lowest in the division.

And with Cemal Ramadan struggling with a rib injury in training, which saw him rested on Tuesday, and Ipswich Town loanee Nico Valentine not available ahead of last night's FA Youth Cup tie at Portman Road against Liverpool, manager Chenery felt he had to act.

“We obviously had a disappointing result on Saturday so we were aware we needed a spark up front,” he said.

“We’ve got the best defensive record and we’ve struggled to score goals.

“Olly is Bury through and through so I thought it made sense. We made contact and we managed to get it through for last night.

“He was certainly good value, that’s for sure and he created sparks on the pitch for us which is what we need.”

With former Leiston and Felixstowe frontman Mills having also returned, he said: “Both of them have worked with me previously and they were very good for Bury.

“And when these players come about and are still fit and still got that desire and determination to do well I think they are really good additions.

“I can see that maybe people might think differently but last night (against Felixstowe) they displayed the quality they have and it’s experience for a young squad.

“Those two lads led the line fantastically last night. Darren plays to his strengths and he certainly did that.”

Chenery was delighted wit the character his side displayed to bounce back from the defeat at Witham in their Suffolk derby.

Mills’ 50th minute hustling goal added to Joe Hood’s fourth minute penalty ahead of George Clarke pulling one back for the Seasiders in the 90th minute.

He said: “We were very good value and they didn’t really cause us problems.

“It was fantastic to go from that at Witham to that at a Felixstowe side who hadn’t lost at home in almost a year.

“It shows we have an honest group who have just not been having the rub of the green but we certainly deserved the three points last night.

“The character was fantastic and we never stopped running.

“We’re a close-knit group and we proved that last night, for sure.”

He now takes his side into back-to-back home games in four days with second bottom Great Wakering Rovers tomorrow (3pm), who have also lost their last nine league games, coming ahead of mid-table Wroxham on Tuesday (7.45pm).

He said: “We’ve shown a level of performance, the performance has been there, it’s just having that in the final third with that bit of nous and knowhow which Olly Hughes and Darren Mills can bring.

“We’ve given ourselves a massive platform last night to go and push on now.”

The Blues are 11 points off the play-off zone with fifth-placed Grays Athletic having played a game more.