Premier ABury St. Edmunds 2 Broxbourne 3Bury hosted Broxbourne in their final game before the Christmas break and should consider themselves very unfortunate not to have claimed at least point in a thrilling tie.

Premier A

Bury St. Edmunds 2 Broxbourne 3

Bury hosted Broxbourne in their final game before the Christmas break and should consider themselves very unfortunate not to have claimed at least point in a thrilling tie.

This fixture signified the half way point in the calendar and Bury were looking to avenge their opening day 5-0 drubbing at the hands of the well-drilled Hertfordshire outfit.

Bury had the worst possible start and found themselves two goals down within the opening 15 minutes and in previous weeks may have folded and gone on to concede several more. But although results have not shown it, Bury have restored some confidence recently and reacted positively to keep working hard as a team and started to create some chances of their own.

With centre back Pearce missing through injury, Nik Ciappi stepped into the role and was unlucky not to score as he carried the ball out of defence. Clever runs from the Bury midfield took the defenders away and Ciappi found himself at the top of the circle with only the keeper to beat, unfortunately he screwed his shot wide but it was a mark of the growing Bury possession and pressure.

Steve Jackson did make the breakthrough just before the break with a fine individual goal, the pacy wideman collected the ball on the edge of the circle, beat his man with a trademark arching run round the edge of the 'D' which created half a yard of space, just enough to get a quick shot off which beat the keeper at the far post.

The second half was an even affair and both sides must take credit for going for the win and playing open, attacking hockey. Ed Thompson got the equaliser for Bury on 50 minutes through an excellent counter attack from Bury which started in their own circle. Calver played the ball into Bright who in turn fed the run of Skelton, Skelton collected and held possession until Jackson joined the attack then laid on an inch perfect pass for Jackson to strike first time. The Broxbourne keeper made an excellent save but Jackson picked up the rebound and crossed to Thompson on the far post who made no mistake from three yards.

With the scores now level and Bury in the ascendancy it looked like they would go on to claim all three points and perhaps should have done with a string of penalty corners, but the keeper again made some wonder stops to keep the scores level. At this level it is vital that you take your chances when presented and Bury had their hearts broken in the last three minutes when Broxbourne scored the winner, even the brilliance of young keeper Portious, playing his last game before a six month trip to South Africa was not enough to keep out a fierce reverse stick strike.