Firstly i'd like to say thanks to everyone who managed to make the trip north to Darlington. I'd also like to say that i was a little disapointed with the lack of some people's availability for this game. We all need to start pulling together as a team and start looking to push on please .

Ok, on to our game, it was an eventful start to the day meeting up at 7:30 am at gigg lane. We had quite a few players missing from the squad for this game but we also had a certain ginger goalkeeper awol who we had to ring to remind that he should have been meeting up with the team. 40 minutes later he decided to turn up, meaning that the team had to go without breakfast. So we began our trip north to Darlington.
Firstly i was told earlier in the week that the Darlington team had changed the pitches as the one we were due to play on was waterlogged, so i was quite supprised to find the pitch that had been arranged for us had puddles of frozen water all across it, but nevermind at least the game was on.

Well i thought best, with the lack of options regarding players, that i would carry on with Nev upfront on his own with Ant just behind him as this tactic has born fruit in previous games. Also keeping the superb partnership of Kev and Graeme in the centre of midfield that was set up in similar circumstances at worldnet, i am really proud of the partnership they have built up in there. Also i have to say the defence is starting to show strength in depth with a number of players that can step up if any other is missing, without it showing on the pitch.
I thought we again played some fantastic passing football and strength in our first half. With the defence cutting out any balls that were played in by the Darlington midfield some strong tackling and closing their men down quickly . Simon had some brilliant running and crossing down his wing, his passing was quite good. Darlington couldn't handle our midfield i thought. Kev had his quick feet and running combined with his passing while

Graeme was very strong on the ball they just couldn't seem to take it off him. Graeme's attacking was superb he linked up well with Ant and Nev playing some beautiful balls over the Darlo defence for Nev to run onto .Also i remember the shot he had from about 30yds that just went over the bar, i think he even suprised himself with that one! Ant was as strong as ever with his brilliant passing and movement .

I have to say the first half was all ourselves, i can't remember Darlo having had one clear cut chance on our goal. I think Murray had gone to sleep at one point we went in at half time having not scored but having had numerous chances to do so . We had in my opinion totally outplayed them in the first half we talked about what needed to be done in the second half and we went out looking to carry on from the first .

I think we were seriously unlucky to conceed the goal we did as Darlo hadn't really threatened to score the whole game they just had the one shot that managed to squeeze past Murray (Murray Moment). In my opinion had Murray been tested more often and kept busy by the opposition, then he would have been more aware and would have probably saved the shot they had . I feel from that moment on we had to chase the game a bit and we didnt really play the kind of football we would have liked to have done .

Anyway we had chance after chance again but we just couldn't seem to get the ball into the net and the more that went on the more frustrated we got, then with a cross from out wide the ball was passed across goal for Kev to slot home into an open goal. We created even more chances after that, one in paticular, where Nev put a fantastic cross in for Graeme to attempt a diving header, which he missed the goal by the shortest of measurements.

After that i feel we just had left it a bit late to get the equalizer and it was just a little to much for us to get the winner, but i have to say my players did not give up trying which is a quality i try to instill into my team. I'm proud of the effort they all put in and i feel on any other day we could have won this game quite comfortably.
I have to say though i feel a little let down by some of my players who did not travel with us on the day, as i feel had we had some subs on the bench we may well have had that bit extra to push on and win the game. As i said earlier though, i'm seriously proud of all the lads who did travel and i'm seriously proud of the effort they all put in, so well done guys i don't think traveling up to Darlo and playing on that pitch the way we did was easy.
 
Well done again your proud manager H .

Welcome back! I know I haven't written for a while, appologies I have been a little busy. I hope you all had a good Christmas and New Year.

Right, onto business... Our first game back after the Christmas break saw us travel over to the Wirral to face Tranmere, everyone being a little plumper after their festive indulgences, but looking forward to our league and cup double header. We knew from previous games against Tranmere this wouldn't be an easy game, and we would have to work as hard as always to secure a result.

I feel I took the strongest team I could for this particular game, and the first half proved this decision correct, with us playing some good football on the deck. We looked to be passing as well as playing Tranmere off the pitch. Our defence was solid with some good tackling coming in from Craig in particular, and Neil Sav running his little legs off to clear any danger . Also, Graeme performed very well up front. He kept on making his runs and turning the Tranmere defence inside-out. He tirelessly kept going and was eventually rewarded with two goals - I am proud of the attitude and effort he displayed.

We created chance after chance - even I got up for a few good efforts... one in particular I received the ball inside the Tranmere area and I had to dribble the ball to try and make some space for a shot I was about to shoot when I spotted Ant in a better position towards the edge of the area and I unselfishly laid the ball off for him, which he shot narrowly over the crossbar. Afterwards he remarked, "I looked up to see Mark dribbling the ball in the area and was shocked." Maybe he used a little more colourful language though.

I must also say well done to the Tranmere keeper who made some fantastic saves - even with his legs - to frustrate our attackers. We went in 0-4 up at half time and looking strong.

The second half saw us playing uphill, which was to prove to be a tough task. We started quite well again, but we then started to take our foot off the gas a bit and just as Tranmere started to push onto us, we then had Wozza go off with his customary second-half injury. We called upon John to replace him and I had to do a little re-positioning of the defence and things started to go wrong. John tried to let a ball run out of play and unfortunately, the Tranmere player managed to convert this into a corner. Somebody left their man who proceeded to put the ball over Murray's head while he was still on his line.

After this we started to play a bit too deep, inviting pressure onto ourselves. Tranmere threw men forward looking to get back into the game. They managed to get another goal which just gave them further confidence and we went onto the back foot and panicked a bit. In my view, playing uphill and not yet having match fitness on our side, we started to get tired and it showed when we then went on to conceed a third goal, which was worrying. We went from looking strong and job done at half time to fighting our hearts out to keep our one goal lead. We had to dig deep. In the last minute, Tranmere were awarded a free kick on the edge of our area and their keeper came up in true cup fashion! Myself and Wozza stood on the sideline worrying and biting our nails hoping we could keep this freekick out and get to the final whistle with our one goal lead intact, which we managed to do and the relief was plain to see. You have to congratulate Tranmere on a fantastic fightback from 4-0 down to come close to taking us to penalties and forcing a share of the points in the league.

A win none the less though, and hard fought out one at that in the second half. It sees us go into the quarter final of this season's cup against Hull and also continues our fantastic unbeaten run to ten wins in ten in the league.

Also a big thanks to the ref who was all in all a good ref, even though he did miss a few late tackles, but that's how it goes sometimes!

Needless to say I will be working you all on your fitness over the next couple of training sessions and let's take this game on board and learn from it and push on to hopefully have a successful season and get some silverware.

As always, your proud manager H.

What can I say? Well done each and every one of you. Saturday's game against Rochdale was the best all-round team performance we have produced. Every player did a fantastic job in their part of the field, and it showed. I asked for us all to put in the effort, and we did - showing what we are all about: hard work and good football that produces results.

I'd also like to say well done to man of the match Nev for his tireless running and scoring an overhead kick. Also to Neil Sav for sacrificing his testicles and any future children to stop a shot on goal by one of the Rochdale strikers. To my brother for scoring with his head/shoulder - he still hasn't stopped celebrating it.

As we know, a 4-1 win against Rochdale is more than another victory and three points on the table. It's pride and bragging rights with our close neighbours. Also, it is a scalp that has eluded us for the last few seasons, which made the victory even sweeter.

I don't think Rochdale put up anywhere near the opposition I thought they would. It was quite an easy game in my view compared to our last two tough away games. Rochdale didn't seriously threaten our goal at any point in the game and if it wasn't for the penalty given away by ourselves I think we would have seen Chris Murray's first clean sheet. In a way though, we should count ourselves lucky that he didn't as he would have gone on for months if he'd kept one...

So, guys, enjoy your weekend off those of you not coming to Weymouth, and good luck to the B team on Saturday. I will be coming down and keeping my eyes on the players wanting to make the step up to the A team, show me what you've got. For those of you coming to Weymouth, we will be taking on the Weymouth team in a friendly match. I'm going to mix the team up and try out a few things and we can also let our hair down and enjoy a game without the pressure on.

So guys, remember let's keep it up and enjoy your football.

Your proud manager, H

Again I would like to say a big well done to everyone involved with the game against Notts Forest and also a very big well done to man of the match Ant Grinrod for scoring four goals, without whom I think we would have maybe lost the match. Well done to Connor as well for a brilliant A team debut, helping to create one or two goals. He showed that he is a very good player for his age and I wouldn't hesitate to play him again if needed. And finally, well done to Paddy for his tireless work, if not a bit too eagerly putting in a few good tackles and a few bad ones - even if the ref did not decide to see them although everyone else did.

Again we came away with all three points after what i term as out toughest match yet this season. Notts Forest are a good team who up until Saturday were unbeaten, and we had to work very hard to take that away from them going down 2-0. I have to say I was worried going 2-0 down to a team that were unbeaten and were in last season's IFA Cup final. It is not a situation I would have been confident of coming out on top of if I had been told before hand would happen. But I asked you to give it your all and show them what we are made of and I have to say I was impressed. We went back out for the second half and you all did yourselves proud and the name of Bury proud.

Again we showed that if we work hard and play as a team we can give anyone a test and we will have to do that again against a very strong team in Rochdale. We will all have to be on our best form and I will have a few selection headaches with a few key players returning, but I am pleased with those kind of decisions - it yet again shows the quality we have in our squad.

So like I say every week guys, let's keep our treasured 100% record going and let's keep up the hard work and enjoy our football. Let's beat Rochdale this weekend, as we all know what it means at any level to face Rochdale - it's pride and bragging rights for us all.

Good luck, guys. I have faith in you all. Your proud manager H

I will start by saying well done to everyone who took part in Saturday's game against Port Vale and also to all the people who came down to support us - it is appreciated by myself and all the players. I'd also like to thank the Port Vale team who travelled up to play us.

Saturday's game was another hard fought game against a good Port Vale team who played the game in good spirits. I was a little disappointed to conceed the first goal but we didn't let our heads go down. We stepped up our game and kept plugging away, working hard and I thought we were unlucky to go in at half time 1-0 down - which was due in part to some very good goalkeeping by Port Vale's keeper.

We came out for the second half determined to get on top of the game, and with some hard work and some good passing football, we did just that, pishing on and winning a close-run game to which I have to give Port Vale credit. And also, credit has to go to captain and man of the match Carl for his brilliant display and fantastic goal which in my view is contender for goal of the season already.

We can't rest on our laurels though. We will have to work on a few things in training after Saturday's game. A bit of shooting practice, mainly for one of our strikers who had a bit of a blip - referee Mike Sutcliffe counted 16 attempts by the striker, four hitting the target and only one of which found the back of the net. Also a bit of tightening up at the back is needed as we twice conceeded shortly after scoring, putting ourselves under more pressure.

Another victory sees us carry on our fantastic unbeaten run, having now won 4 in 4 in the league.But we have a few more tough games coming up in the next few weeks that will test us, so let's keep up the effort and hard work we have been putting in.

We will have a few players missing for out next away trip in the league to Notts Forest, so there will be a chance for a few players to come in and show me what they can do, and maybe cement a place in the first team. So guys, good luck, and remember the most important thing: keep enjoying your football and let's push on and climb this league.

Your extremely proud manager H.

Again I'd like to thank everyone in the squad who made the short trip over to Macclesfield and all those who travelled over to support us. I'd firstly like to say well done to the team for a well earned victory over a good Macclesfield team who put up a tough test on what was a bad pitch, although not the worst we have played on (Huddersfield Land 'ut Gods!), although they were a little over dirty in their challenges and I'm surprised nobody came off the pitch with an injury (luckily for us).

I'd also like to say well done to a few players in particular. Firstly to Wozza for a wonderful man of the match display at left back. Also to Nev for a fantastic game bagging a hat trick with some fine balls played in from Graham, and to Chris Murray for a brilliant display in net for his first league game this season - he came into the squad at the last minute on Saturday morning and unudually for him, grabbed his chance with both hands!

I decided to make a few changes for this game with the absence of Noel and Ant. I welcomed back Neil Saville, Chris Murray and Kev Hothersall to the team and all played well, proving yet again that we have good strength in depth in our squad.

We started the game slower that I would have liked but after opening the scoring with a well-taken penalty from Nev, we settled a bit more and started playing the attractive passing attacking football we have become acustomed to even with the most inept referee ever, who in my book was atrocious, deciding to ignore his linesman when quite clearly Macclesfield's striker was a good 3 yards offside allowing their goal to stand, which drove me to having a few choice words with him. He then proceeded to do the impossible and get worse, ignoring late tackles, blatant kicks, handballs and a multitude of other infringements.

But, at the end of the day, I'm proud of you all for pushing on with the game and battling to the end to come away with all three points continuing out unbeaten run and pushing us up the IFA table, so let's keep this brilliant run going with some more good football against our next league opponents Port Vale this Saturday, and importantly, let's keep enjoying our football.

Thanks everyone, your proud manager H

Firstly, I'd like to thank everyone who played against Tranmere. Everybody put in 110% and produced a fantastic performance ensuring we came away with full points and our unbeaten league run continuing.

We got back to our best, playing excellent attacking football without any negativity. We got the ball down on the ground and created some brilliant passing play. Towards the end, we took our foot off the gas a bit, which i think we need to watch, but all in all a wonderful display that I am very proud of.

Tranmere didn't put up the test I thought they would have done, although they did put up a fight in small periods of the game and I'd like to thank them for travelling up to Bury to play us and hope they will take us on at their home in the near future.

I'd also like to congratulate Ant on winning the vote for Man of the Match. So guys, let's take this brilliant form away next week to our next league opponents Macclesfield and remember the most important thing, let's keep enjoying out football and riding that infamous pony!

Thanks again everyone from your proud manager H