Bury Town boss Ben Chenery praised his side for the way they “kept probing,” and also the role of stand-in keeper Will Gardner, following Saturday’s last gasp 2-1 home win over Dereham Town.
An injury to keeper Daniel Barden, on the half-hour mark, necessitated the use of an outfield player in goal - the Blues had no reserve keeper on the bench - and defender Gardner stepped up to don the gloves and play his part in a vital three-point haul.
In the end, late goals from Ryan Stafford and Cemal Ramadan (penalty) turned it around for Bury, who gave a debut to former Ipswich Town star Carlos Edwards.
"I thought we started really well, and had two or three good chances to score. That's been our Achilles heel of late, not being able to score from these sort of opportunities," explained Chenery.
"That put a bit of pressure on us, being the home team and not scoring.
"Then it wan unfortunate to lose Daniel Barden. We didn't have George Bugg (young keeper) on the bench - we haven't done before.
"That meant an outfield player going in goal, and we lost our way for 10 minutes or so, because that rocked us a bit before half-time.
"It wasn't definite that Will (Gardner) would be the one to go on in goal. We had a long discussion, because we had to ask everyone who was confident to play in goal.
"Everyone said that Will should go in goal. He hadn't even played in goal during training, but he looked like a keeper, that's what I felt. He has a big stature, and he came for one or two things and did really well.
"I thought we were excellent in the second half. We kept probing, even though it was a stuttering performance. It wasn't the usual fluid way we play at home. I felt that Dereham had come for a point, and Cruise (Nyadazyo) came on and gave us a spark.
"It was a great ball in by Carlos Edwards for the equaliser, and then we get the penalty. Cemal (Ramadan) had been ineffective all day, but then scores under pressure! That's the sign of a good team, to be average and still win.
"It's a great feeling to win like that, with two late goals."
Debutant Edwards said: "The keeper situation didn't really unsettle us, because the boy (Gardner) who went in goal did really well. He looked the part.
"Sometimes things like that happen. Full credit to him for taking control of it."
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