Bury Town 4 Lowestoft Town 0

The final scoreline of 4-0 to Bury Town reflected the upper hand that the home side had for the majority of the match but with just five minutes of the match to play the score was only 2-0.
Credit has to go to the Lowestoft Reserve/Youth team players who put in a determined performance throughout, never giving up and working hard for each other against opponents at a much higher level than most of them would have ever faced before.

Jake Jessup was the only first team squad member to feature in the team and even though Bury looked to take control of the match from the off, Lowestoft didn't look overawed. As the twenty minute mark arrived Lowestoft even managed to win back a little bit of the dominating possession from Bury by occasionally get into the Bury half with some good movement.
Bury came close to breaking the deadlock just before the half hour mark but a superb block on the line by a Lowestoft shirt stopped what looked like a certain goal for Bury.
The home side were now seeing heavy spells of possession and just after the half hour mark a ball passed back in the area from just a few yards left Jessup under pressure and with the keeper smashing his kick against the closing down forward, the ball flew straight back past Jessup and into the goal for 1-0 to Bury (31 mins).
The goal saw Bury increase the tempo in their play and the young Lowestoft players had to work hard to reach half time with a respectable scoreline of trailing by just one goal.

The second half got underway with Bury yet again controlling it from the off but a great save in the Lowestoft goal by Jessup stopped them doubling their lead.
Bury were really turning the screw now with a high percentage of possession but there wasn't much in the way of an end product, as the young Lowestoft sided continued to work hard as a team.
Sixty minutes of the game had now gone and following the initial spell of domination early in the second half, Lowestoft briefly managed to get some possession of their own. The youthful Lowestoft players were certainly showing plenty of guts and determination and were certainly not letting their work rate drop, even when Jessup was forced into another save, this time with his legs.
Lowestoft were trying their hardest to wrestle back possession and for a young set of players there was plenty of talking on the pitch and focus in their play, along with them being buoyed by the fact they were still only one behind.
As the final fifteen minutes of the match arrived the home sides persistence saw them eventually double their lead, as a cross came in from the left and a close range header gave Jessup no chance to move the score onto 2-0 (75 mins). Two nearly became three but a stinging shot from distance was matched by an equally impressive save by Jessup between the sticks, as it looked like Lowestoft were going to come away with a respectable 2-0 defeat.
However, with just five minutes of the match remaining the hard working Lowestoft youngsters started to tire a little and with them effectively now chasing shadows, Bury added a third and fourth goal within a minute of each other.
No more goals were added by the home side before the end and when the final whistle did sound there were certainly plenty of positives to be taken away from the game for the young players.

It was a tough test but a great opportunity in their development and every player should go away from the game not focusing on the result but focusing on the many positive to come out of how they applied themselves not just as individuals but as a team in this match.

Well done lads!!
The final pre-season match for Lowestoft Town takes place this coming Saturday when they travel to Kings Lynn Town, before their season gets underway a week later away to Chorley.

Terry Bullen