Bury - Away, Withdean Era
Season 3 (A) 1/12/01 - 2-0 ~ Zamora
Bury had been in div1 since promotion as champs in 1997. Neil Warnock then took charge for a season or so and hey presto, back in div2 again. There are movers and Shakers and you guess the rest. The Earl of Derby had originally rented Gigg Lane to the FC and it must have been a nice little earner because they were eventually gifted the joint outright. BHA went there and though the ground had been remodelled, there was still a quiet suburban feel, opposite the cemetery end. Even Withdean's green and pleasant pitch could now rival Bury's, inflicted by post twentieth century decline.
Bury were struggling on and off the field and looked drop zone fodder. They'd ended up in Administration eventually and were being given a good shaking all round. Somehow this club, remotely stuck outside from Greater Manchester's modern success, had pinned a few wins on the map to make visitors aware of their relative position. In excess of 800 fans who readily travelled to a distant venue up north need not have worried. BHA went there and er, buried 'em. Taylor said, 'we produced an outstanding performance, on and off the ball and got the result we deserved.' Zamora lobbed Shakers goalie from distance and the video replay is still worth rewind today. Brooker snatched the second from a deflection but hey, they all count. Anyway Albion were unstoppable, with BZ reaching eight in a row and sharing an old time record. A run of nine fixtures undefeated saw BHA in top spot, so if this could be held at the halfway stage, a second big P word was definitely a possibility. Taylor hadn't used a sub up the old Manchester Road and that was a rarity in the modern game. He knew what was what by now and hadn't altered Adams sixteen, bar tinker with the bench as and when he desired. Nobody had as yet been added to the squad, while Crosby and Wicks were soon to leave. Ramsay and Lehmannn followed later and Pitcher also kinda disappeared at this level. Forget kids on fringes this particular season.
Kuipers, Watson, Cullip, Morgan, Mayo, Hart, Carpenter, Oatway, Jones, Brooker, Zamora.
Div 2 (League 1) P 21 . W 12 D 7 L 2 . F 30 A 15 . Pt 43 Po 1
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Bury - Home, Withdean Era
Season 3 (H) 16/3/02 - 2-1 ~ Zamora, Lewis
Persons of a certain age remember clubs such as Barrow, Gateshead, Bradford PA and Aldershot as FL regulars before disappearing from fixtures lists. The latter had been wound up in 1992 and now Bury was teetering on the edge of 21st century oblivion. To make matters worse, their insolvency was compounded by threat of sale of Gigg Lane by those whose names were on the deeds. Administrators had intervened but somehow the club still had to raise 400k in next to no time, in order to prevent folding. Brighton fans took up a bucket collection and raised 3700 pounds to help Shakers fighting fund.
In terms of a standard division table, Bury were in a tight scrap with several clubs around the drop zone. However in the fair play league, they were bottom and lived up to dirty northern bastinardoes tags - caning teams with their feet up. Bury enhanced their poor records by having a bloke sent off when doing Zamora in the area. Yes over 80 yellows and reds going into double figures - oh no! On yet another wet Withdean afternoon, sliding tackles were going in from metres remote of the ball. The pitch might have been encouraging d-n-b's tactics but was holding up, rather than just holding water. Funny how it never seems as wet when we win.
BZ converted the aforementioned penalty to give us a 2-0 lead and him for 30 goals for this season. Here is one Brighton did earlier - Lewis hit a post and then claimed the goal when it went in off goalies horizontal head. Kuipers dropped a er, ball and Shakers got a wet one out. Taylor said, 'I felt for the first forty-five minutes we played very well, especially attacking and thoroughly deserved to go in 2-0 up at the break. In the second half maybe we took our foot off the pedal a little bit and started to look nervous. We needed a third goal but Bury scored and made it a tight affair from then on. Every game from now on is a cup final and we can expect six similar matches before end of the season.'
Kuipers, Watson, Cullip, Morgan, Mayo, Hart (Pethick), Carpenter, Lewis, Brooker, Steele, Zamora.
Div 2 (League 1) P 40 . W 21 D 13 L 6 . F 56 A 38 . Pt 76 Po 2
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