AFC Sudbury gain revenge on Bury Town with Suffolk derby victory
When the fixtures list was released last summer, both Bury Town and AFC Sudbury would have hoped that there was more riding on today's encounter at the Atalian Servest Stadium than just bragging rights.
At different points of the campaign the two rivals – separated by 18 miles of the A134 – had harboured ambitions of being involved in next week's play-offs, only for those to be extinguished by some inconsistent form since the turn of the year.
Subsequently it meant that hosting Bury (12th) and the 10th-placed visitors had little to play for in front of an impressive crowd of 1,013 supporters – and for large parts the quality on show reflected as much.
However, Sudbury, who were gunning for revenge after losing the reverse fixture heavily on New Year's Day, had the better of the few chances that were created and they made one of them count late on to seal a 1-0 victory – their third win in a row.
It was not until the 33rd minute that a goalscoring opportunity of note came about as Sudbury goalkeeper Alfie Stronge's long clearance caught out the Bury defence and freed Josh Stokes down the right hand side of the box. The youngster struck his shot cleanly, but it flew a yard or so wide of Sam Blair's far post.
Stokes had an even better opportunity a couple of minutes later after a scramble inside the Bury box, but with 'keeper Blair in no man's land his scuffed effort was cleared off the line by retreating centre-back Joe White.
The tireless Stokes was again involved in the thick of the action in the 51st minute when he pounced on a wayward header from White. He then showed good pace to skip away from Bury captain Ollie Fenn, but the shot that followed was a good height for Blair and the Norwich City loanee made the save.
Bury, meanwhile, were struggling to create anything despite enjoying some decent spells in possession. And they were not helped in the 65th minute when one of the key playmakers – Jake Chambers-Shaw – was forced off with an injury.
It would be inaccurate to claim it felt like a Sudbury winner was coming as time ticked away, yet there was a growing sense that if there was to be a winner then it would be the Yellows who were going to be celebrating.
And it came to pass 11 minutes from time when Reece Harris' inswinging corner from the right flank left the Bury defence static and Sudbury captain Joe Grimwood powered the ball home from close range.
Grimwood and his fellow defenders then did well defensively, repelling everything Bury threw their way as they hunted an equaliser that would have delighted the majority of the four-figure crowd.
Yet it was Sudbury that went closest to scoring the game's second goal in stoppage time. Blair had gone up for corner and was desperately scrambling back towards his goal when Correy Davidson ignored two team-mates running clean through to his left and went for goal just inside the Bury half. His accuracy was good, but their was just too much height on the effort and the ball landed on the roof of a relived Blair's net.
It mattered little though as the away side saw out the final few moments – which were littered with yellow cards – with minimal fuss to put 16 points between the two sides.
Bury: Blair, Hood, Snaith, Jolland, Fenn, White, Chambers-Shaw (Maughn 65'), Horne, Hughes, Ramadan, Crane
AFC Sudbury: Stronge, Keys, Harris, Cocklin, Grimwood, Andrews, Hassan (O'Malley 89'), Turner, Shaw, Stokes, Davidson
Suffolk News Man of the Match – Sak Hassan (AFC Sudbury): It was not a game high on quality but Sudbury's Somalia international produced some moments that were pleasing on the eye. He also worked hard at the front end of the pitch and deserved the applause from the away supporters when he was subbed off late on.
