Pools 3 - Bury 0

AS I SEEN IT

RUNNING MONKEY watches Pools go up to 5th top

A fine sunny afternoon for footy, so after the downpour around dinner time it saved the ground staff watering the pitch. With 5300 crowd in attendance it was sad to see a poor turn out from Bury, but I suppose six without a win would put a few off travelling the short distance. 

Both Richie Barker and Taffy Williams were the old boys returning to the Vic and Richie in particular was afforded a good reception by the faithful.

Liddle forced a corner in the first attack and Sweeney could not test the keeper with his shot. At the other end Ned saved comfortably from a free kick the man in the middle gave against us after an Aussie tackle. A free kick at the other end saw the ball skim the head of Boydie. Bury came straight back and Murray made a great block from a rasping Bury shot. Sam was having a great game winning every header and his distribution was superb.

Wright was knocked to the deck by a ball that hit him on the back of the head as he tried to block the cross, but he was soon up on his feet. Wright looks to have been a very good acquisition to the squad - very mobile both in defence and attack.

Pools were playing some good football but were finding Bury difficult to break down. Boydie came close heading a free kick from Aussie onto the top of the visitors net. Both teams were breaking well and the Bury forward Harrad tired any fair or foul means to pressure Ned, even using elbows, which the officials missed.

Paul Murray won a ball midfield and carried it forward and blasted a shot through the crowded box, which the Bury keeper was equal to. The same player, Harrad, turned Hartley and broke free in the box to strike at Flinders, who smothered the shot. The game was becoming bogged down as both teams gave little away until Solano slipped his marker, sidestepped a defender, and hit a lovely low shot back across the goal to take the lead. Solano, almost on the next attack, played a great ball to Nish, who turns well on the ball for a big man and he set up Sweeney at the far post to slot the ball home. I thought the flag went up before Sweeney scored, so possibly Nish was offside first.

The second half started at the same pace as the first but it was Colin Nish, who we all know desperately needed a goal in front of the home fans, got one, and this was some goal. A cross from Monky found Nish who made a superb turn and hit his shot under pressure into the roof of the net to rapturous applause. He may have his critics in some quarters of the ground but that was one of the best individual goals I have seen.

Nish again won a ball and set up Sweeney, who raced through on goal but was sandwiched between two defenders and his shot went just wide. Pools were playing some great football now and Wright was finding more space, and a great run to the dead ball line allowed him to hit a low cross that Poole mis-hit as he came from the other side of the goal. Nish sent a great header in and was unlucky to see it bounce off the bar with the keeper beaten.

Nish scored his third of the season by beating a defender in the box, nicking the ball from him, rounding the keeper, and coolly stroking the ball into the net with the Poolies going wild. Poole who came on, went close with a curling shot just past the far post and almost set up Nish for a hat trick. Nish made a desperate stretch at the back post but could not connect. Bury did have their moments but teams that are mis-firing always seem to try too hard, as we know from experience. Fortunately there were not enough Bury fans to give Barker much grief.