Bury Fanzoner Santosh Rudravajhala accuses some of the Shakers line-up of hiding...
What a turnaround
Bury
Fanzoner Santosh Rudravajhala accuses some of the Shakers line-up of hiding after their run without a win continued at the weekend...
What the HELL is going on?!!
Let's rewind back to April 18th, the sun was shining, the fans were singing and the Shakers were scoring. Our stroll past Macclesfield, leaving us in the final automatic promotion spot, marked the last goals that Glynn Hurst would score for us and was the last time we actually saw a goal scored from open play at 'Fortress Gigg'.
Fast forward through five hundred and eighty five minutes of disaster tempered with tedium and the final whistle against Accy signalled the end to yet another dismal home display. It seems someone has left the drawbridge down and we're reverting back to the dark ages of Casper-Alexander.
Winning a lifetime's supply of Johnstones Paint isn't going to get us out of League Two; surrounded by have-nots, fallen "giants" and the spectre of one world famous Swedish receding hairline. Any positivity taken from the JPT shoot-out victory at Walsall can now be forgotten!
I always thought last season, that the moment we picked up a couple of injuries, we'd come unstuck. The thing is, those injuries never really arrived and Knilly's masterful moves in the loan market meant that those that were injured, were in fact replaced by arguably better players.
Where's the desire?
So what is going on? The jury is still out on a lot of our new signings - which is not a good sign when you've already played eight matches.
What is also puzzling is what appears to be a lack of desire from the team as a whole. I know if you asked any footballer, of course they are hungry to succeed, but are they playing at the same tempo and hunger as last season? I think our humiliation at Grotland last week answers that question.
One post-match radio phone-in caller I was listening to argued that we are indeed missing good old Hursty and that, other than injured Andy Morrell, all our strikers play in the same way. It's clear that Bishop isn't fit but he's played whilst walking wounded before and can be effective, if he has a good running partner. He needs a Paul Dickov style 'scurrier' to play off him, harass opposition and poach goals in the box and I'm not convinced that his available strike partners can offer that.
Light in the tunnel
The going has certainly got tough, so who's got the mental toughness to get going? Captain Scott is now getting pilloried by the fans and it pains me to agree with them but he's still struggling for form. I am intrigued as to what Alan Knill has up his sleeve; surely he'll be ringing the changes by next week?
For all the doom and gloom however, it is still early doors and it could be a lot worse. Accrington Stanley are staring into the abyss. It was good to see our fans return an old favour and put some money in their fans' pre-match 'Save Our Stanley' collection. At least I still have a club to support and it wouldn't be Bury if we did things the easy way.
