Bury dominate resolute Felixstowe

Bury 4s welcomed Felixstowe 3s to Culford, looking for a win to put them up to second in the league.

With availability being exceptional across the club Bury had a squad of 15 and an in depth plan to share game time around. Many thanks to Theo Kettle for doing the assistant manager's job and running the subs, to Sue Yeates for working out a plan, and to everyone for taking their turns off the pitch.

Bury dominated the territory from early on but struggled to get shots away in a crowded D as Felixstowe fought hard to prevent the creation of chances close in. When Bury found space our youngsters carried at pace with Bella Bridgeman and debutant Imogen Grove regularly getting in on the right without finding a goal creating cross. Felixstowe’s keeper repelled most shots and a superb goal line save by a defender held Bury at bay.

The whole game was, however, in Felixstowe’s half. The breakthrough came from the left, with Alex Tomlinson breaking into the D and squaring for Jenny Clark to tap in. The lead was doubled soon after, Kathryn Mitchell getting a stick on a ball in a melee.

Half-time allowed Bury to reset. There were three main aims: to win more short corners (we only had three in the first half); when in crossing positions, to pull the ball back from the crowd scene around the goal; and generally to pass the ball more quickly against what had to a be tiring opposition.

This worked. An early corner hit a post and Nikita Eastes was on hand to sweep home the rebound. A flowing passing move then found Jasmine Westcott running into the D and her early shot found the corner for a fine goal. Kathryn added her second from another open play passing move. The final two goals came from slip left corners, Alex T burying the first and Bella tapping in at the far post to finish the scoring.

Much credit to Felixstowe whose 11 players never stopped working. We scored 12 the first time around without playing as well, so their improvement was obvious. It was a strong Bury performance, with excellent work from all those playing in mid-field: Bryony Reeves, Eliza Westcott, Claire Jefferies-Wilson and Alex Huggins, as well as Bella, Immy, Jazz and Alex T . Although Alex H did blot her copy book with a green card awarded for a poorly timed tackle just after receiving a warning from the umpire!

Thanks to all the supporters for the vocal support. And to the defence (Nikita, Sue, Ella Brisbane, Eloise Campbell-Todd & Kerry Woods (GK)) for maintaining concentration in a game where there was very little defensive work required.

If it doesn’t snow or freeze next week we are off to Ipswich.