Bury shake up Latics with historic victory
RYAN Lowe could hardly contain his delight after he watched his Bury side produce a stunning second-half comeback to beat Oldham 3-1 in a pulsating derby at Gigg Lane.
The Shakers, who had not beaten their rivals in a league game at home since 1967, were behind for long periods thanks to Callum Lang’s neat finish.
However, two goals from Nicky Maynard and Caolan Lavery’s strike meant they kept their unbeaten run alive and condemned Paul Scholes to his second defeat as Latics manager in just four games.
And following his side’s thrilling win, manager Lowe only had praise for his players and their fighting qualities.
He said: “The lads have shown the spirit once again to come out fighting after going behind.
“We never feel sorry for ourselves, because I won’t let them, it was only a goal and you can always get back in it.
“Once we got the ball down and started playing our way with a high tempo and more urgency, I knew as soon as we got the first goal we’d get another.”
It was a game for long periods that Lowe must have felt might pass his team by after Lang’s eighth-minute goal.
Callum McFadzean, Byron Moore and Adam Thompson all missed glaring chances to bring Bury level and it was not until Maynard poked the ball home 18 minutes from time that the Shakers were on terms again.
They would not look back after that, as Lavery’s cool finish from Nicky Adams’ low cross four minutes later gave them the lead, before Maynard took advantage of a defensive lapse to seal the contest.
A final 20 minutes that all the Bury fans in the crowd would have dreamt about, but not for Oldham boss Scholes, who lamented his team’s defensive efforts in conceding three late goals as their hopes of forcing their way into the play-offs took another blow.
“We’ve conceded three sloppy goals and we can’t afford to be doing that,” Scholes admitted.
“Bury are a really dangerous team, but we were nullifying them and proving a threat ourselves but we sat too deep in that second half and we’ve paid the price.”
The result keeps Bury second in League Two while Oldham drop to 13th.