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Bury 1 Rotherham 2

21/10/2008

BURY missed out on the chance to regain the League Two top spot after slumping to their second straight home defeat.

Just as they did against Exeter 10 days ago, the Shakers fell behind early and were unable to fight back despite laying siege on the visitors' goal.

Bury made a wretched start as Rotherham, who would be joint-third with Bury but for their 17-point deduction, charged into a 2-0 lead inside 11 minutes.

Skipper Paul Scott pulled one back in the 30th minute before Andy Bishop missed an 81st-minute penalty for the Shakers.

Rotherham caught Bury cold on a freezing night, opening the scoring in the second minute.

Waiting

Reuben Reid latched onto a long ball and slotted past Wayne Brown while the Bury defence were still stood waiting for the offside flag to go up.

Michael Cummins was then given time to cross from the Bury left and Drewe Broughton headed into the top corner unchallenged from 12 yards.

Bury finally got going and a sustained spell of pressure on the Rotherham goal culminated in David Buchanan having a 12-yard strike deflected wide.

Rotherham then put a deep Brian Barry-Murphy free-kick out for a corner and Scott headed in his third goal of the season from Mike Jones' near-post delivery.

Moments later visiting keeper Andy Warrington parried a stinging strike from Elliott Bennett before denying Andy Morrell from the rebound.

The momentum was now firmly with Bury and Morrell had a volley deflected over while Bennett fired straight at Warrington from 20 yards.

Brown had to be alert to deny Broughton on the stroke of half-time, before Reid fired over after Ben Futcher failed to cut out Cummins' through-ball.

Ex-Rotherham striker Chris O'Grady, on-loan from Oldham, was given a hostile reception by the travelling fans when he replaced Morrell.

That stirred the home crowd, although Cummins missed a great chance to increase the lead in the 66th minute from a Rotherham break-away.

Bury's persistence finally paid off when Nick Fenton was penalised for bringing down O'Grady inside the box, but Warrington made a superb save low to his left to keep out Bishop's penalty.

BURY: Brown 7, Scott 7, Sodje 7, Futcher 6 (Racchi 89), Buchanan 7, Bennett 7, Dawson 7, Barry-Murphy 7, Jones 7, Bishop 6, Morrell 6 (O'Grady 58, 7). Subs: Baker, Haslam, Hurst.