Match report: Bury Town 1 Cambridge City 2

Apologies for the slight delay but here's the match report from last Saturday's win at Bury Town:

Cambridge City continued their impressive pre-season form with a victory against Bury Town at Ram Meadow. The Lilywhites were coming into the game after despatching Ipswich Town's U23 team, 3-0, on the 17th of July.

Bury played a different Ipswich side on the same day, The Blues faced off with Ipswich Wanderers, the score ending 1-1. It took five minutes for the first attack, Alex Warman sending in Fletcher Toll with only the goalkeeper to beat. Charlie Beckwith saved with his feet, however.

Just six minutes later, Toll was in again after a misplaced pass but the striker fired his effort over the bar. Toll was causing all sorts of problems for the hosts' defence; firstly his shot was blocked, Charlie Norman then pounced on the loose ball and Freddie Hockey played through Toll again, only for the shot to strike the upright.

The ensuing City corner eventually sparked a break for Bury when Callum Page played Seth Chambers in to get a strike at goal, James Philp managed to save at the near post.

The game looked to be heading into half-time with a 0-0 scoreline, but Travis Dodsworth had other ideas. The wing-back started a winding solo run which, after a quick one-two, allowed him to fire a shot across goal and into the far side on the net to give City a deserved lead. City then went into half-time leading 1-0.

It didn't take long for City to continue where they left off. With 54 minutes on the clock, Toll pounced on another loose pass, which allowed substitutes Jack Thompson and Charlie Royle to set up a crossing opportunity which Toll headed narrowly wide. Just two minutes later, Royle and Norman worked together to find an outlet for Jaiden Babalola to exploit. This allowed Jack Thompson to try his luck but he fired wide.

City then had a free-kick with 76 minutes played. Thompson's cross was aimed for Charlie Brown-Bampoe but Beckwith did well to connect with the ball first and punch away. A minute later saw Ryan King send through Brown-Bampoe for a one-on-one with Beckwith; the Blues' goalkeeper was equal to it and made the save.

Bury didn't have many chances in the game but with ten minutes left they hit City on the counter. Ollie Canfer found himself on his own after a through ball and he smashed his effort into the roof of the net to level the scores.

For all the world it looked like it would finish 1-1, but, halfway through injury time, some quick pressing from Freddie Croft allowed him to win the ball and send through Brown-Bampoe, who turned sharply and rocketed a shot which rebounded off the underside of the crossbar and into the back of the net to give City the latest of leads.

There wasn't enough time for Bury to react and City came away with the win against a team who play in a higher league than the Lilywhites. City's win meant that they have been beaten just once in the pre-season, and they will look to continue that form when they play host to Welwyn Garden City in the final pre-season friendly.

Many thanks to Connor Taylor Creek for the excellent match report.