Bury boss Lowe eyes top spot after closing gap on leaders Lincoln to two points

Posted Sunday, February 17, 2019 by PA

Bury boss Ryan Lowe was delighted to see his side move up to second place in the table after earning a hard-fought three points by winning 1-0 at promotion rivals Exeter.

Nicky Maynard scored the only goal of the game when he bundled in Nicky Adams’ low cross after 66 minutes to settle a tight contest.

The Shakers extended the gap over their hosts to nine points – who sit in eighth place – as they climbed up to second place in Sky Bet League Two with the win.

“We had some good chances. We should have scored early on in the first half and early on in the second half, but when you come to places like Exeter with the fans behind them, you know you are going to be in for a fight,” Lowe said.

“There were two good football teams going head to head and we have managed to come out on top.

“I am pleased for the lads. We got a clean sheet and defensively looked solid. They had a couple of chances, Joe Murphy pulled off a good save in the first half.

“From start to finish we were solid all over the park. We played some great football, got in between the lines but not as much as we would have liked.

“We kept going for the jugular and we nearly scored. The belief and desire to win and not concede.

“It is just another game and we move on. We know the games are coming thick and fast and we know each game is important. We are looking up and not down.”

Exeter boss Matt Taylor felt his side did not have enough quality to their attack.

“It was evenly balanced and I felt it was two very good teams going at each other. We almost cancelled each other out to a certain extent,” he said.

“We had some really good field position without really threatening their goal enough and the Ryan Bowman header was an example of that. But we needed to do that more often.

“To then concede that sort of goal where we lose it in the middle of the park, think we can pinch it and leave our shape – even the finish was a ricochet – was a real kick in the teeth at that stage and we couldn’t quite get back in the game, or get the ball high enough up the pitch to get in areas to deliver.

“In felt we lost a little bit of confidence in our delivery, especially from the back boys. We needed to create patterns of play to get balls in the box and we didn’t test their centre halves and goalkeeper enough.

“We needed to make passes and it’s not rocket science. If you get Nicky Law, Lee Holmes and Randell Williams on the ball, you have half a chance of creating, but we didn’t do that, certainly in the second half.”