ADAM EYES HIS WEMBLEY DREAM
Bury defender hungry to earn final place
HE’S watched his team win from the sidelines, but Bury defender Adam Thompson is now eager to taste the full Wembley experience.
It was back in the 2014-15 season that Thompson’s then-club Southend beat Wycombe on penalties to win promotion to League One. However, the Northern Ireland international, 22 at the time, was forced to watch on after a dislocated shoulder sustained in early April brought his season to a premature halt.
As Bury prepare to host Portsmouth in Tuesday’s Checkatrade Trophy semi-final, it’s understandable that Thompson wants a fresh chance at the home of football.
He said: “I played 30-odd games that season and it was a gutter to miss out. I was fairly young at the time and probably didn’t realise how big it was.
“I was happy for the lads that we’d got promoted and I had played a lot of games, but it would have been great to play at Wembley.
“As I get older, there’s always that niggle about Wembley. You can never take it away from those players that have played there and it would be one of my best career achievements to do it – I would love to play there.”
Wobble
Bury and Portsmouth are both flying high in their respective divisions and promotion is the ultimate aim for both this season, but that can take a backseat at Gigg Lane. Kenny Jackett’s Pompey have had a wobble of late in League One, but will travel north as favourites in most people’s eyes due to their higher status. However, Bury do have home advantage and have already seen off third tier sides in this season’s competition. Centre-back Thompson said: “We had two League One sides in our group (Rochdale and Fleetwood) and we’ve beaten Accrington (4-2) and Oxford (5-2) in the knockout stages, so we’ve shown what we can do. “Portsmouth will be a big test and the dangling carrot of Wembley will add a bit more to it, but we have to treat it as any other game as much as we can. We have to keep doing what we’ve been doing.”
It’s all a massive contrast from last season – for both Thompson and Bury. He joined in the summer of 2017 with high hopes but was packed off to Bradford on a season-long loan just a few games into the season by boss Lee Clark.
The Shakers struggled on the pitch and both Clark and replacement Chris Lucketti paid the price. Ryan Lowe took the reins just over a year ago and swiftly recalled Thompson.
Yet they finished rock-bottom of League One after a disastrous campaign. This term could hardly have been more different.
Thompson said: “After last season no-one could see this coming, you have to be in it to realise how bad it was. This season has been chalk and cheese, and the gaffer’s been massively important in that. He said he didn’t want any negativity after last season and he’s completely turned it around.
Potential
“Players that didn’t play up to their potential for one reason or another are now playing well. We’ve got an attacking style and we have very talented players at the top of the pitch. It’s worked well for us.”
Thompson has been an ever-present this season and is enjoying playing as the middle man of Bury’s defensive trio in their 3-5-2 formation. He’s grateful to rookie boss Lowe, 40, for showing faith in him.
“I wasn’t really playing on loan at Bradford last season and he enquired if I could come back,” he said.
“Before that I didn’t feel wanted, so that was a big thing for me. He’s a very good manager. He’s just come from playing and he knows what it’s like. You can talk to him about anything, but you know not to cross him because he’s the manager.”