National League Two South Tonbridge Juddians 27 Bury St Edmunds 15 Few, if anyone at the ground, could have predicted the outcome of the match after Bury had dominated the opening, writes Simon Lord.

Receiving the kick-off, Bury did not surrender the ball for fully 21 minutes!

An opening try arrived after just four minutes. Will Scholes stole a TJ line out, the ball was transferred quickly to the three-quarters where Finlay Sharp burst into the line. He sent Jacob Bodkin away and then was up in good support to receive the inside pass for the score.

Quite then how Bury did not extend their lead was a mystery. They were in total control, continually recycling the ball and going through phases to stretch the home defence to its absolute limits.

The clock now showed over 20 minutes and still only 5–0. Bury’s frustrations began to mount and with another attack not really going anywhere the inevitable happened.

An aimless box kick was skewed straight into the arms of Galbraith–Lowe. The winger could not believe his luck and with no one in front of him, he ran 40-metres to score in the corner.

Incredible! TJ’s hadn’t touched the ball and yet amazingly the scoreboard read 5–5.

Now, Bury began to flounder. Connor O’Reilly was shown a yellow, TJ’s kicked a penalty and then May crossed in the corner. The conversion made it 15-5 to the home side at the break.

Back to 15 men each after half-time, Bury couldn’t stop Juddians from going further ahead as Matt Jurevicus crossed to make it 22-5.

Then, after a lot of huff and puff, Bury’s persistence finally paid off. Alex Grey, one of few Bury players to shine, burst through two tackles and raced down field.

Toby Francombe was up in support to continue the break before he off-loaded to Sam Bixby to run in by the posts. With 15 minutes left, Bury pushed on again, a penalty bringing them within 22-15.

That was as close as they could get though, TJ’s scoring with the last play of the match to make the scoreline look a little flattering.