BURY ‘OUT OF THIS WORLD’
BOSS David Flitcroft declared Bury’s firsthalf performance ‘out of this world’ as they rocketed to second in the League One table.
Winger Zeli Ismail opened the scoring for the Shakers but Kristian Dennis equalised on the stroke of half-time.
As the game appeared to be heading for a draw Bury forward Tom Pope nodded his fifth goal of the season to wrap up a fifth consecutive victory.
“The first half is probably the most rampant that we’ve started,” Flitcroft said. “James Vaughan really put us on the front foot and (Tom) Pope and Zeli (Ismail) – it was a performance from another planet.
“The first half I felt sorry for the full-back (Liam Graham). When Zeli’s in that form he is unplayable. He tortured him at times and he made it a real difficult afternoon for the kid. He could have had a hat-trick inside ten minutes quite easily.
“For the second goal Tom Walker’s delivery and Popey’s header was just class. He is probably the best striker in the league for that type of ball.
“If that second one is scored in the Championship or Premier League they would be oozing over it. If (Zlatan) Ibrahimovic scores that goal they would show it a million times – it was a fantastic goal for Popey.”
Bury made a lightening start and Ismail caused all sorts of problems down the right wing – his closest effort coming on four minutes when he raced through on goal but his dinked finish over goalkeeper Ryan Fulton trickled just wide.
Spirietes striker Conor Wilkinson smashed a 20-yard free-kick against the post five minutes before half-time, but it was the Shakers who took the lead from the resulting counterattack as Ismail broke away from three defenders and blasted a shot into the bottom corner.
On the stroke of half-time though, Dennis found himself unmarked a couple of yards out and he duly tapped in the equaliser.
The tempo dropped in the second half, but substitute Walker swung a magnificent cross into the box a minute from time which Pope headed home to seal the points.
And Chesterfield manager Danny Wilson said: “I’m angry because I think we had enough opportunities, in the second half in particular.
“We weathered a storm in the first half. There was a lot of pressure but we defended it really well and got through to half-time.
“We went a goal down but came back with an equaliser fairly quickly.
“Then in the second half I thought we took over. For large parts of the game we had good possession and got into some fantastic positions but just frittered it away without even worrying their keeper.
“That’s what has upset me more than anything. The decision making when we were on the ball was very average and we’ve got to get better than that.”