Shattered Shakers are Don for again
BURY’S week from hell ended with a second thrashing at the hands of AFC Wimbledon in five days, and joint-caretaker boss Chris Brass claims it is the players who must lead any change in fortunes.
Wimbledon’s 5-0 victory in the FA Cup first-round replay on Tuesday cost Bury boss David Flitcroft his job, but a virtuoso display from Dominic Poleon in particular meant the managerial alteration made no difference to the end result second time round.
Poleon scored and assisted both Chris Whelpdale and Tom Elliott in three magical firsthalf minutes, while George Francomb’s double heaped on the Shakers’ pain.
“It has been a tough week for everyone at the club,” said Brass, whose side’s only goal came from James Vaughan just before half-time.
“Three minutes of madness turned the game totally on its head. We need a quick turnaround, we have to regroup.
“Sometimes as a player you just have to put that little bit more. There will be some serious work done to turn things around.
“The answers can only come from the players, the manager can help but the desire has to come from within.”
Poleon got things started by cutting the ball back for Whelpdale to divert home, while less than 60 seconds later Poleon drove forward and fired an unstoppable long-range shot into the net.
The forward then turned provider again straight away, as he squared for Elliott to make it 3-0 before Niall Maher fouled Francomb in the box and the midfielder converted the resulting penalty.
And although Vaughan nodded in Danny Mayor’s cross before the break to get the Shakers on the board, Francomb made it 5-1 just before the hour by calmly slotting Elliott’s cross into the bottom corner.
The Dons leap into the League One play-off places, and manager Neal Ardley reserved special praise for Poleon. “Dom is a goalscorer and wants to score, but he knows he gets more praise from me when he has that composure to put someone through who is in a better position,” said Ardley.
“The game changed when we switched from 4-3-3 to 4-4-2. Everything changed and the floodgates opened.
“Bury must have felt their plan was working but you have one moment of madness, you are 1-0 down. Before you know it there is another slip-up, they are 2-0 down, their heads have gone down and we capitalised.”