Lowe thrilled with Bury response in beating Tranmere

Posted Sunday, December 23, 2018 by PA

Bury boss Ryan Lowe was delighted to see his promotion-chasing side bounce back from derby defeat at neighbours Oldham with a deserved 2-1 home success against Tranmere.

Nicky Maynard and sub Caolan Lavery provided the goals which keeps the Shakers firmly in the promotion picture at the top of League Two.

Lowe said: “Well, a win is a win and so I’m delighted.

“It was really important that we bounced back after last week’s disappointment, and fair play to the lads, they’ve done that in good style.

“It’s fair to say we rode our luck a little bit at times in the first half.

“On another day Norwood would have had two or three goals. Today it just didn’t work out for him.

“My players have got the lot, though.

“There’s resilience, spirit, fight and passion, and I can’t ask for any more than that.

“They’ve gone out there with a game-plan and they’ve stuck to it, particularly in the second half.

“There’s some real good characters in the squad this season, and to be honest all of the lads have been a pleasure to work with.

“That’s a great situation to be in for a manager like me.”

Bury went close early on as Chris Stokes nodded inches wide.

The hosts threatened again when Maynard forced Rovers’ keeper Scott Davies into a smart diving save.

Rovers replied with James Norwood somehow scooping Jake Caprice’s cross over the top from eight yards.

Bury broke the deadlock in the 52nd minute, with Maynard expertly heading home a precise out-swinging free-kick from winger Adams.

Norwood ought to have levelled in the 64th minute, but he somehow fired over from five yards.

The hosts all-but wrapped up their victory in stoppage-time when sub Caolan Lavery drilled home from 20 yards.

Rovers sub Ritchie Sutton headed home even deeper into added time, but Bury hung on.

Rovers boss Micky Mellon has seen his team win just once in their last six games heading into the festive programme.

However, he remains positive.

Mellon said: “We missed a lot of good chances, and of course we’re disappointed that they weren’t taken.

“We know we could have done better in certain areas, better with the ball and the rest of it.

“We’ll continue to work hard and trying to improve – that’s all you can do.

“In terms of desire and fight, the lads fought really hard, and I can’t be too harsh on them heading into the Boxing Day game.

“I like playing football at Christmas.

“I have never really known any different from a very young age, this is what I do.

“It is a very different Christmas to a lot of the fans as the staff and all the players have plenty of hard work to do, but we all still very much enjoy it.”