Bury Town 2 Barking 1

At the final whistle, the public address system, played the Dave Clark Five rendition of ‘Glad All Over’ much to the delight of Bury manager Ben Chenery who was clearly relieved with this well-deserved win, following a run of five matches without a victory, writes John Campany.

It was also reward for the 240 brave souls gathered at the bitterly cold Denny Bros Stadium who witnessed two headed goals from Bury striker Ollie Hughes that set up the points.

The visiting Blues, fresh from last week’s 2-1 win over highly-placed Grays Athletic, proved tough opposition, but returned to East London ‘Singing the Blues’, failing to overcome a highly motivated and well organised home side.

The opening period was even as both sides assessed each other.

The game then livened up when Cemal Ramadan from the edge of the box struck a fine shot that saw Tim Brown diving low to push the ball to safety, and a minute later Barking’s leading scorer Darrelle Russell powerfully fired in a shot that Luis Tibbles managed to block.

The temperature rose a little in the 25th minute when Bury took the lead.

The build-up play culminated with the visitors conceding a corner and from the ensuing kick Hughes rose with aplomb to head beyond Brown.

Barking were quick on the break and tested the home defence with their pace, but Ian Miller and Kyran Clements were solid.

Tibbles was sufficiently alert to gather an angled driven ball from Russell, but the home defence was breached in the 35th minute when Abs Seymour released a short pass into the path of Darrelle Russell who coolly struck home his eighth goal of the season.

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Bury regained the lead on half-time.

Ryley Scott chased a loss cause to the by-line before expertly chipping beyond the near post finding a well positioned Hughes who nodded in his second of the afternoon.

In the deteriorating weather, the second half saw Ramadan power in a shot that the keeper saved as the home side ran down the clock with determination and expertise, to end a sequence of disappointing results, and maintain their eighth place in the table.