Ryan Lowe relieved as Bury battle past nine-man Yeovil

Posted Sunday, August 05, 2018 by PA

Bury boss Ryan Lowe hailed the endeavour of his men as they battled to a hard-fought victory against nine-man Yeovil on the opening day of the League Two season.

The Shakers, who suffered relegation last term, won a fiery encounter when substitute Gold Omotayo’s netted an 89th-minute header to secure a 1-0 win at Gigg Lane.

A lacklustre encounter was sparked to life in 13 second-half minutes when referee Dean Whitestone dismissed two Yeovil players.

Tom James earned a second booking when he brought down Danny Mayor, before Jordan Green saw red for a foul on Bury captain Neil Danns, a tackle which sparked a 20-man scuffle.

Yeovil looked to have battled for a point, but Omotayo’s 89th-minute strike meant that Lowe’s side got a winning start in their first game back in the fourth-tier of English football for three-years.

Lowe said: “We obviously deserved it. It was tough when they went down to nine men. We had some good chances, but we found it tough to break them down.

“I’ve said to the boys in there, it’s not about individuals, it’s a team game, people coming off the pitch having run their socks off. When you’ve got quality off the bench what we’ve got, and quality in the stands, you have to utilise them.

“I put the names on the team-sheet, and they pick themselves, the group and the 11 that started, that’s theirs now. Gold (Omotayo) comes on the pitch and scores a goal, so he might knock on my door now but we have a togetherness.

“We had to work really hard today against a good Yeovil team. We thoroughly deserved it and in the first half we could have scored one or two, but we held our own here today, and to get the goal late on was deserved.”

Lowe feels that the red cards could have had an adverse reaction for his squad, however he is proud of the way his players applied themselves with their numerical advantage.

He added: “The fans will think it’s going to be easy, but it is never easy to play against nine men.

“Management is a tough ask, believe me. When a lad gets shown a red card and a team goes down to nine men, you often think, ‘are they going to do that to us, make us react and even up the numbers’?

“You know they are going to put bodies on the line, that’s a Darren Way team, but fortunately we scored late on.”

Glovers boss Way felt Green and James could have avoided their dismissals.

“We’re very disappointed with the lack of discipline, and the players need to take responsibility for their actions,” Way said.

“The first one, when you look at the incident itself, he was on a second yellow card and he missed the tackle, so I’ve got no complaints with that. He’s been linked with another move this week, so the player has been through a lot.

“The second one, he was pushed into an opponent and his leading leg almost followed through because he couldn’t get out of the pace that he was running at.”