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Bury 0 Stockport 1


7/ 3/2006

LIAM Dickinson's winner five minutes from time eased some of the relegation pressure on Stockport while piling it up on Bury.

The big striker's sixth goal in just six starts settled a thrilling game in terrible conditions and had County boss Jim Gannon beaming.

He said: "The boys were brilliant. If we had been a bit more clinical we could have had two or three before the goal, but we knew another chance woud come."

Bury boss Chris Casper, who saw his side's five-match unbeaten run ended, said: "It was very disappointing. We didn't defend as well as I would have liked and we were undone by taking a chance."

Both teams gave their all and the crowd got their moneys worth.

The rain-sodden Gigg Lane pitch, which was only deemed playable after a 4.30pm inspection, looked hardly conducive to good football, but that was hardly reflected in the large number of chances for both sides.

But soon after Bury keeper Kasper Schmeichel, on loan from Manchester City, had smothered an effort by Tes Bramble, County were gifted a great chance to take the lead.

Connection

A long clearance by Stockport keeper James Spencer was missed by John Fitzgerald, allowing Dickinson a run on goal, but the former Woodley Sports striker pulled his low shot inches wide of the post.

Bury's best chance of the first-half came in the 31st minute when Dave Flitcroft put through Tom Youngs, whose shot hit the post and bounced away to safety.

Colin Marrison should have scored just after the break when Dwayne Mattis's cross from the right found him unmarked in front of goal, but he failed to make the right connection and the ball slipped wide of Spencer's post.

Schmeichel raced from his area to deny Adam Griffin when he was clean through in the 69th minute and followed it up a couple of minutes later with a great save to keep out a shot on the turn by County substitute Jamie Ward, who signed on loan from Aston Villa on Monday.

Mark Robinson had to make a goalline clearance to keep out a Youngs shot as Bury pressed, while at the other end Schmeichel continued a superb performance with a diving save to hook out Bramble's clever shot.

But the young keeper could do nothing in the 85th minute when Dickinson fired past him after former Stockport defender Dave Challinor was dispossessed by Adam Griffin and sub Adam Le Fondre played the ball out to the striker.

The County fans, who were being filmed for an ITV documentary, promptly went wild for the cameras.

Who do you think will be relegated this season? Have your say.


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Most recent 2 of 8 user comments

   Like many County fans I'm not that confident when we attack or comfortable when defending. But hey, that's always been our lot. The heart shown by the team again seems to be matching that of us supporters, who the club are at last acknowledging as their twelfth man. I thought a steady alround performance, which with a little more composure up front would have been more comfortable. But as I said, anything else wouldn't County, and that's why we love them. Hope Bury do avoid the drop, with the likes of Torquay, Rushton and Chester they should be OK (but if we can have three more points on 1 April that would be great).
Dave, LOndon
10/03/2006 at 18:04

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   Much better performance. The defence still looked mighty shakey but we managed to hold firm and snatch a goal. 1-0's will do but it's absolutely essential that we build on this and win at home on Saturday.
Alan, Offerton
9/03/2006 at 16:23

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