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Still on top

2/10/2008

Bury 0
Wycombe 0

IT is by no means the norm for home fans to walk away from a 0-0 stalemate with smiles beaming across their faces.

But this season has in no way been normal for Bury’s supporters.

After becoming used to stressful relegation battles, they are pinching themselves at the moment with their team sitting pretty at the top of the League Two table following their best start to a season for more than half a century.

An encouragingly large crowd of 3,597 spectators turned out for Saturday’s top of the table clash with fellow unbeaten side Wycombe. And, although Bury failed in their bid to maintain their 100 per cent home record, their fans had plenty to console themselves with on Saturday.

Highly-rated Wycombe have the meanest defence in the league having not conceded a goal away from home all season.

And history shows that they are one of Bury’s bogey teams.

But Alan Knill’s side posed Wycombe a fair amount of problems in a hard fought encounter and they were unlucky not to score a late winner with Michael Jones and Paul Scott both being denied by Wycombe keeper Scott Shearer at the death.

And the one question mark against Bury’s early season form was finally erased with the Shakers’ first clean sheet in seven games making sure that they stayed above second-placed Wycombe on goal difference.

Wycombe captain David McCracken came closest to preventing the clean sheet and inflicting Bury’s first home defeat in 12 league outings on Saturday.

He had a penalty shout turned down in the first half with the referee ruling that Scott’s tackle on him was a fair one.

And, in the second half, he was denied by Bury keeper Wayne Brown from close range before his header sparked a did it or didn’t it cross the goalline debate.

Either way, Brown did exceptionally well to get his hands to it. And he also impressed in tipping over Matt Phillips’ clever chip.

But Bury, who were able to name an unchanged side for the seventh successive game with centre back Efe Sodje passing a late fitness test on an ankle problem, had more chances than Wycombe, though the visitors edged the possession stats.

Shearer tipped over an ambitious Stephen Dawson strike before the midfield ace and Brian-Barry Murphy fired just wide from distance. Elliott Bennett was also narrowly off target but Andy Morrell missed Bury’s best chance of the game with his lofted effort landing on top of the net after a flick on from his strike partner Andy Bishop had put him clean through on goal.

But, all in all, a draw was probably a fair result. And Bury’s happy supporters can sing ‘we are top of the league’ for at least another week.

Team: Brown, Scott, Sodje, Futcher, Buchanan, Bennett, Dawson, Barry-Murphy, Jones, Bishop, Morrell. Subs not used: Cresswell, Baker, Haslam, Racchi, Belford. Attendance: 3,597.