Bury run in seven tries once more as Wimbledon are sent packing from the Haberden

Bury second row partners Will Scholes and Alex Stanley getting ready for action against Wimbledon. Photo: SHAWN PEARCE (Image: Archant)

For the second week running Bury ran in seven tries on their way to a 48-23 National League Two victory to overwhelm a valiant Wimbledon side that at one point looked like causing an upset!

There is an old adage that forwards win games and the backs decide by just how many…and there was certainly an element of that at The Haberden on Saturday.

Dwayne Corcoran scorer of an incredible four tries and his fellow three quarters will rightly grab the headlines but their try scoring exploits were built on the back of some fine forward performances.

Wimbledon, already missing key players were dealt a further blow when lock Andy Hore was injured at the first line out, but Bury were in no mood to show the newly-promoted visitors any sympathy.

An early James Doe penalty was quickly cancelled out by the first of Corcoran’s first half hat trick of tries. Fraser Honey’s fine kick deep for territory saw Bury steal the resulting line out, The ball was recycled, Honey picked out McBride and he fixed the final tackler before sending Corcoran in by the corner flag. Honey added the extras and a penalty shortly after to put Bury 10-3 ahead.

Directly from the restart Bury scored again! Scholes caught the kick and was allowed to race 30 metres unchallenged before the ball found Lord in space. He danced around his opposite number before sending Corcoran in again.

Wimbledon battled back bravely, but their attacks lacked the creativity to break the Bury defence down and all they had to show for a long period of possession was another Doe penalty.

Corcoran sent Bury into the break 22 points to six up thanks to his speed of reaction to a Wimbledon fumble, The left wing swooped on the ball and ran in 30metres unchallenged.

Smiles all round and the game seemingly in the bag, just the bonus point required…

Wimbledon had other ideas and came out in determined fashion.

The Wombles capitalised on a Bury infringement to go through several phases of attack. This time they mixed the more expansive approach with several close quarter drives and it ultimately paid dividends when Swandell was driven over from five metres. Doe’s conversion and then a penalty shortly afterwards made the score 22-16 and the home euphoria evaporated!

Bury had lost a little of their shape and Wimbledon were showing that despite the loss of further players to injury, they will cause many teams problems in this league. Bury had to dig in! Stapleton and Bixby gave their now standard level of performance but they were overshadowed by flanker Brendan Mitchell who was tireless both in attack and defence.

Honey’s penalty attempt curled narrowly wide but his fine tactical kick forced the visitors to defend a line out in their own 22. Bury forced a fumble and earned themselves a scrum. The Wolfpack edged for the line and with a penalty advantage threw the ball to Corcoran. The winger almost weaved over but instead popped the ball to the supporting McBride to crash over.

Wimbledon now had to chase the game and it played perfectly into Bury’s hands.

An adventurous attack was turned over by Bury on their own 22. Scrum Half Anderson – Brown spotted space down the blind side and sent Chris Lord racing clear. The full back had options left and right but instead chipped over the cover defence and won the race to his own kick for a popular try.

Wimbledon battled bravely but they were second best at the set piece and when Swandell was shown yellow for foul play at a line out the inevitable try followed. Bury kicked to 15metres, recycled the ball over and over again until McBride could pick out Corcoran un marked to stroll in for an incredible 4th try! Honey once again landed a superb touchline conversion to extend Bury’s lead to 43-16.

The final ten minutes saw Wimbledon trying to run the ball at all occasions but Bury’s dominance in the line out meant that all too often they had to attack from deep in their own half. A tiring defence had no answer to a regulation backs move by Bury. Lord joined the line, turned on the after burners and then sent Affleck scampering over in the left corner.

To their credit, Wimbledon still kept going and deservedly scored the final try of the day. Slight complacency by Bury was seized upon and quickly worked to winger Josh Christie. He then showed a clean pair of heels to three chasing defenders to run round by the posts and touch down.