Bury Town 3-1 Walthamstow: Cemal Ramadan double helps deliver Cole Skuse the perfect birthday present as title-chasing Blues return to winning ways
A Cemal Ramadan double helped Bury Town get back to winning ways with a 3-1 victory against visiting Walhamstow seeing them keep pace with the top two in the Pitching In Isthmian League North Division and delivering boss Cole Skuse the perfect birthday present.
But on his 39th birthday the former Ipswich Town midfielder saw his side fall behind in calamitous circumstances inside three minutes when his goalkeeper’s clearance rebounded off defender Taylor Parr leaving Louis Johnson with a simple header.
But thanks to some comical defending up the other end, they quickly helped themselves to two goals inside a minute, via close-range finishes from Ramadan and Luke Brown.
And it was top scorer Ramadan who gave them daylight six minutes into the second half with a cool angled finish off the far post from a swift counter-attack for his 26 league goal of the campaign.
From there a shaky first-half display in front of a crowd of 774 was put behind them as they professionally saw out the game out to consign their visitors, who arrived in eighth place, to a third straight defeat.
The west Suffolk side remained as they were, in third place, three points behind leaders Brentwood Town - who were 6-1 winners at home to Mildenhall Town - and behind second-placed Felixstowe & Walton United - who came away from second-bottom Sporting Bengal United having scored eight unanswered goals - on goal difference with five games now remaining.
Skuse made two changes from the 1-0 defeat at Brightlingsea Regent with Ed Upson and Luke Brown coming in for Harley Curtis, who dropped to the bench, and the injured Mikey Davis (knee). Alfie Pinyoun came back on the substitutes bench alongside recent signing Tom Stagg..
There was less than three minutes on the clock when disaster struck for the home side. A poor flicked backpass from Ethan Mayhew from a Walthamstow throw-in put keeper Charlie Beckwith in trouble with his hurried clearance rebounding off his own defender, Taylor Parr, and leaving the alert Johnson to head unchallenged into an empty net.
Bury’s worrying start continued with Tyrone Baker getting too much space on the left and seeing a low effort grazing the near post.
But comical defending up the other end soon turned the game on its head with two goals within a minute.
First, a 10th-minute backpass from Hamid Bun-Seisay went past his own keeper and left the Blues’ top scorer Ramadan with a gaping goal from which he was never going to miss.
And it was a routine shot from Ramadan that Lamar Joseph-Johnson failed to deal with that provided the home side’s second from the next attack. The ball was feebly pushed out only as far as Ethan Mayhew who should have scored before Brown, following a block, duly did.
The next significant action did not materialise until the half-hour mark when they were calls for a Bury penalty waved away when Max Maughn appeared to be knocked over as he went to get a shot away, following a neat touch, before Ramadan shot his follow-up blocked.
Beckwith made a good low save at his near post from Wyan Reid’s half volley as Walthamstow broke too easily into the home area.
The visitors then had a penalty shout of their own turned down when Upson ran awkwardly across Johnson as a cross came into the box, ending up landing on the number nine who was penalised for obstruction with the ball caught under him.
Bury saw a big chance to extend the lead pass them by in the six minutes from the break with Joseph-Johnson redeeming himself with a fine double save from Brown and Mayhew at his near post after seeing Maughn’s far-post cross evade his grasp.
Parr then had his hands in his head after meeting Upson’s corner with a firm connection but seeing it go wide.
Walthamstow continued to look a threat on each attack and in the dying stages of the half Lewis O’Malley threw himself in front of a fierce Johnson effort after some more slick build-up play.
Ramadan went close to extending Bury’s lead within seconds of the second half beginning with his central shot from outside the area coming back off the crossbar.
But he did not have to wait long to celebrate his 26th league goal of the campaign as he fired in off the far post after cutting into the area after Mayhew helped on a Maughn throughball to end a clinical counter-attack in the 51st minute..
A quickly-taken throw-in from Brown ahead of the hour mark put Ramadan in on goal for his hat-trick but the Bury number nine’s left-footed effort lacked power and was straight at Joseph-Johnson. He then lifted a bouncing ball on the edge of the box well wide.
Looking for a way back into the game, Walthamstow’s Johnson twisted and turned his way into space in the home area before seeing Beckwith pull off a save with his legs.
After surviving some pressure from the visitors, boosted by their substitutes, Bury began to exert a look of control in possession that had been distinctly lacking.
And they almost extended their lead further from another great Maughan throughball which substitute Ollie Canfer flicked on to Brown in the area but the defender made a key last-ditch block as the forward went to pull the trigger.
With 14 minutes to go former Colchester United professional Tom Stagg, recently signed following a spell with divisional rivals Witham Town, came on for his home debut in place of Brown.
Beckwith was called into action to make another fine save at his near post before tipping away a dangerous hanging corner and fisting away a ball into the box as Walthamstow piled on some late pressure.
Ali Njie fired wide from a good position as the game entered its final 10 minutes with the visitors having been unable to spark the game back to life.
Ramadan got a warm reception for his efforts as he left the field for Harley Curtis as five additional minutes were signalled.
Parr, not for the first time, made a good late block in the box to deny a frustrated Johnson.
The final chance of the game came up the other end when Stagg fired wide inside the area following a short corner routine.
Reflecting on a return to winning ways, Skuse admitted it was not a vintage performance but was delighted with the outcome.
“It was a great result and really pleasing today,” he said.
“It was probably the further point away from our smoothest performance in possession but I thought first half we dictated the tempo of the game and in the second half it flipped as I thought they played some really good stuff.
“Our discipline out of possession was incredibly pleasing, our distances between our back three and our middle two were really, really good second half. It restricted them to shots from distance and anything that came into our box we dealt with very, very well.
“And when you’ve got the personnel we’ve got in our group when you hit the top end of the pitch, as soon as we hit teams on the break, when you’ve got people like Cemal who can finish it’s a real good blend today and I’m really, really pleased with the result.”
Next up for Bury is a trip to face Kevin Horlock’s Maldon & Tiptree side next Saturday (3pm).
Bury: Beckwith, Parr, O’Malley, Horne, Curry (cpt), Mayhew (Pinyoun 88’), Maughn, Upson (Canfer 66’), Ramadan (Curtis 90’), Brown (Stagg 74’),Jolland.
Unused subs: White.
Booked: Mayhew (46’).
Walthamstowe: Joseph-Johnson, Pascal, Peart (Livings-Corbin 82’), Toussaint (Salau 61’), Bun-Seisay, Njie, Reid (Sayoud 61’), Yeboah, Johnson, Ibe, Baker (Hazelwood 90’).
Unused subs: Hazlewood.
Booked: Johnson (80’), Livings-Corbin (82’).
Attendance: 774
SuffolkNews Man of the Match: Max Maughn. The wing-back’s final ball was immaculate and led to a number of opportunities on a day where Bury had struggled to create as much as they would normally expect to.
