Bury enjoy afternoon at home with win at Lane

BURY manager Ryan Lowe praised his side’s character after the Shakers came from behind to beat Crewe Alexandra and resume their promotion push.

Jay O’Shea’s double sealed a 3-1 win at Gigg Lane after Caolan Lavery had levelled just after the break.

The visitors, who had scored just three times on the road before the new year, got off to a dream start, taking the lead in the third minute through Chris Porter.

“First half we weren’t quite at it. I felt like we needed 25 per cent extra,” said Lowe.

“At half-time we changed a few things around, trying to get the wing-backs to play higher up the pitch.

“I think once we got the ball down in the second half and started playing our way, there was only one winner.

“Our lads have stepped up and shown what they’re about.”

Lavery tucked home once Danny Mayor’s shot had come back off the upright.

Mayor was then stopped in the box after a run and O’Shea converted the spot-kick.

The midfielder scored his second – and Bury’s third – on 76 minutes, linking well with Callum McFadzean down the left before unleashing an unstoppable finish past Ben Garratt.

“It’s a pleasure for me to coach and manage the players we’ve got,” Lowe added.

“The way they go out there and give it all, the way they show that grit and desire and determination – that’s big for me.”

Bury go fourth in the table, two points behind Mansfield Town in third. THE fear, after three defeats in four games, was that City had lost their mojo.

Bernardo Silva said, disturbingly, that the players had lost ‘emotional control’ during the 2-1 defeat at Leicester. The success of last season was based on the fact that, after an occasionally difficult first season, the players had not just grasped Pep Guardiola’s philosophy, they had embraced and cherished it.

When you are winning, it is easy to believe – the fruits of that belief were evident as teams were dismantled and often beaten before they got out of the tunnel.

After hammering Everton at Goodison Park, a graveyard for successive City managers since 2008, Kevin de Bruyne noted that the bewilderment and lack of an answer was writ large on the opponents’ faces.

But against Crystal Palace and Leicester, the only thing on opposition faces was a sharp reali- sation that they had caught the Blues in a moment of selfdoubt.

Guardiola’s system is all about belief. If any cracks start to show, it can crumble, and needs re-building quickly.

That was where the City players found themselves before kick off at St Mary’s.

The Southampton fans and players smelt blood, although manager Ralph Hasenhuttl did not appear to share their view, resting three key players.

The first half was all about seeing how City would react – had their faith in “Guardiolism” been shaken by those defeats? The answer came when City were a goal up, and Aymeric Laporte was chasing a Southampton channel ball towards his own corner flag. A panicked team, a side that was struggling for confidence and selfbelief, would have sought the earliest opportunity to get the ball upfield. City, as they have done so many times in the past, saw an attacking opportunity in a knifeedge defensive situation. Laporte dummied to get the ball on his left foot for the hoof upfield, but turned back towards his own goal and passed to Ederson on the edge of his six-yard box. Saints, knowing what City have been through, sensed a chance and Mario Lemina stormed in to try to dispossess or block the goalkeeper. Ederson, utterly unflappable, simply played a short pass to Aleks Zinchenko, who nonchalantly but with surety played it across the sixyard line to Vincent Kompany. Now Stuart Brennan