Bury dropped 2 points after a 100th-minute equaliser from Abbey Hey. First-team analyst Chris Watt gave us his thoughts on the game
Chris Watts: “Disappointing again, do you know what, mate? I don’t know. Sometimes you’ve just got to do ugly, dirty things to get results and we’ve just not done it. First half, we weren’t good enough at all. We’ve come out second half, created a bunch of chances again, done really well to get ourselves in front. I think it’s probably one of the first times this season we’ve actually come from behind and got our noses in front but to concede again was disappointing, just from switching off from another set piece, which seems to be a consistent theme at the minute. Then we dug ourselves out of it again. We’re at a point in the game where we’ve thrown on a bunch of defenders to try and see a game out. We just can’t win a header. That’s the most disappointing thing about it, is basics. We’ve just not done well enough at all. We haven’t been doing well enough with those for a couple of weeks now. That’s got to change fast.”
Chris than told us about the changes to the starting 11 after DJ [Pedro] suspension and why Alex [Cherera] came in to lead the line with him saying “Obviously, Rueben [Jerome] was on the bench. Talk us through the thinking behind that one. The idea was to try and get him behind them. We knew what they were. We know what we are. They’re a big side. We thought some pace across the line, trying to get in behind them. A bit of a change in midfield now that Bobby’s [Carroll] back with Nicky [Adams] and Cam [Foggerty]. It’s kind of flattened out a bit. You don’t really have the 10, so try and get some pace in behind them. That was the thought process. The first half has not worked, has it? You mentioned the first half. There were plenty of chances in there. I think Alex had one. Rusty had one that just trickled wide, and Bryan [Ly] had a couple as well.
He then spoke to us about what the message was to the players at halftime and about the struggle Bury have had with converting chances, he said: “Yes, that’s it. We’re kind of in a situation at the minute. This happens when teams are on a bad run or you’re drawing games where everything that the opposition does is going in, isn’t it? We’ve barely given anything up on Tuesday and we’ve drawn the game. I spoke to somebody today and they said that Abbey Have had three shots and all three of them end up in the back of the goal. They’re the breaks that just don’t go for you when you’re in these kinds of positions. This is still the same group that just went on a 21-game unbeaten run. Things that were going for us aren’t going for us or haven’t been for the last couple of weeks. That’s on us. We have to change that. Nobody’s hiding from that fact. It’s on us that we’re dropping points at home or points in any game, really. We know that. We’re well aware of it. As much as it’s disappointing, we just have to keep working to try and prepare for the next game as best as we possibly can. We hope that things like this will turn out in our favour eventually, that adversity. We’ve seen signs today from the lads that we’ve come from a goal behind. We’ve got ourselves in front. It’s levelled up. We’ve got ourselves in front again. The signs are that we are digging in, but these little things are kind of turning against us at times. We need to put that right.”
Too finish the interview he looked ahead to the massive games vs Chadderton and Ramsbottom during the festive period with him saying “Yes. Two huge games, isn’t it? Just as everyone is. No game is more important than the next at this point in the season. Where we are, everyone’s on a reasonable level playing field in terms of games now. Everything’s still to play for. We’ve still got 20 games of the season to go. We’ve hit a bit of a sticky patch of form, just as everybody does. I feel like it’s probably unrealistic for us to think that initial form from the beginning of the season, where we’re going 21 unbeaten and we’re winning cup games, and all that kind of things can continue at some point, but it doesn’t. That’s just football it’s the way that it is. Now we have to dig ourselves out of it and get ourselves on another run. The fans are frustrated. After the game today, there were audible boos at half-time as well. After going in 1-0 down, what do you say to them after today? Completely understandable. It’s understandable. Everyone’s here to win games. When we don’t, it isn’t very reassuring. In fairness to the fans, I thought they were class when we came out for the second half. They did everything that they possibly could to get us over the line. We let them down, which we’ve done several times in the last couple of weeks. It’s up to us to put it right. That’s what we want to do. That’s what we work towards doing. That’s what we hope we can do on Friday.”
