National League Two South Old Albanians 27 Bury St Edmunds 39 After a sobering openining day loss, Bury came away from their clash at Old Albanians worthy winners after an often mesmeric performance, writes Neil Ireland.

Facing off with former coach Gavin Hogg, Bury saw the home side score first after 12 minutes when they attacked wide and their fullback benefitted from a two-on-one to score under the posts. It was converted, and OA’s led 7-0.

Two Cam Ritchie penalties made it 7-6, before OA’s kicked one of their own to make it 10-6 after 30 minutes.

But Bury’s Ollie Watson, who was very influential throughout the match, then thundered up the middle of the pitch, passed to the Bury back line and the ball eventually found Bury second row Will Scholes, who went over in the corner.

Albanians pulled a try back, before Mark Kohler crossed again for Bury and converted his own try to give Bury a 20-17 lead at the break.

With three minutes of the second half played, Bury were penalised and the home side duly scored after quick ball released hooker Jamie Townsend who dived in spectacularly under the posts. The try was converted, making it 24-20 to OAs.

Back came Bury again, with Kohler releasing Ben Leng to score. Ritchie, back on the field after a sin-binning, converted and it wsa 27-24 to the visitors.

A penalty levelled the scores for OA’s, only for Bury to retake the lead for good on 62 minutes when Jaid Wiltshire intercepted a pass on half-way and sprinted clear to score in the corner. The conversion missed, but Bury had the bonus point.

Five minutes later, the Bury side earned a penalty after destroying their opposition’s scrum and Ritchie kicked to the OA’s 10 metre line.

The Bury line-out was good and concerted pressure resulted in a penalty for offside against the home team. Bury opted for a scrum rather than the more orthodox kick to the corner and catch and drive.

And that bold decision paid off as Bury camped on the OA’s try-line, sucking in defenders with ferocious but controlled attacks.

Eventually the ball came left to Kohler, who scored Bury’s fifth try and Ritchie – who was having a fine day with the boot – converted to give the game its final scoreline.