DJ Pedro scored twice as Bury were held 2-2 by Clitheroe before coming from behind to beat National League North side Chorley 2-1 in Saturday’s double-header.
Bury were forced to settle for a 2-2 draw with Clitheroe on a baking hot afternoon in the Ribble Valley.
Kicking off at noon, the Shakers fielded a mixed side featuring first-team regulars, under-21 players and several trialists.
Bury made the brighter start, with Mo Touray firing narrowly wide before seeing another effort saved, although the flag would have ruled it out. Luca Navarro also caused problems, sending a dangerous cross through the six-yard box that just evaded DJ Pedro, while a Stepans corner was headed wide by a trialist defender.
The breakthrough arrived before half-time when Touray knocked the ball down for Pedro, who rifled a superb strike from outside the area beyond Clitheroe goalkeeper Isherwood.
Bury continued to control proceedings after the break. Stepans forced a smart save, Navarro curled narrowly wide and Isherwood produced another fingertip stop to keep the visitors’ lead at one.
The second goal soon followed as Bury broke quickly, with Gould supplying the cross for Pedro to finish and double his tally.
However, Clitheroe fought back through Ross Dent. His first came after Bury’s trialist goalkeeper spilled a header from a free-kick into his path for a simple finish.
The hosts piled on the pressure and levelled late on when substitute goalkeeper Oli Gollcher could only parry a corner, allowing Dent to convert from close range.
Gollcher then produced a Peter Schmeichel style save to deny Clitheroe a dramatic winner, leaving Bury to reflect on a strong performance but a frustrating late collapse.
In their second match of a very hot summers day in July Bury came from behind to beat Chorley 2-1.
Having fielded an eleven against NPL West side Clitheroe Bury would now face higher level opponents Chorley of the National League North at their Victory Parade home.
Fielding a side of mostly first team players with a few trialists on the bench Bury did not get off to a great start conceding a penalty through a clumsy Louis Isherwood challenge. While goalkeeper snitch Allen got a hand to the spot kick he could not prevent Whitehouse from opening the scoring.
Despite the poor start the visiting Shakers looked the part and could have found an equaliser through George Glendon but for a last minute interception, while Kai Evans and Leo Graham both had shots blocked.
After the break Bury were much better and levelled the match in unusual circumstances. Tom Carr against his own side was clattered by the keeper. Ordinarily it might have been a penalty but for the loose ball that slowly crawled into the net for the equaliser.
From there Bury never looked back Carr nearly doubled his tally heading a cross that the Chorley keeper Barry did well to save before the Shakers took the lead.
Graham’s corner reached Threlkeld who had lost his marker and he deftly headed to the far corner to put Bury ahead.
While Chorley had a goal chalked off for offside it was Bury that saw the match out and ended their busy day on a high.
After the games, manager Anthony Johnson said:
“I couldn’t have hoped for two better performances today. That’s not me throwing superlatives around – I genuinely thought, across both games, we were excellent.”
“The young players were outstanding at Clitheroe. To put together such a young back line that had never really played together before and see them perform like they did was really pleasing.”
“Then to come here and play the way we did against a strong Chorley side was another big positive. We went behind to a penalty, but our intensity after half-time was excellent and I thought we deserved the win.”
“The most important thing was getting the minutes into the lads. Everybody came through unscathed, which is exactly what you want at this stage of pre-season, and we’ve shown we’ve got real strength throughout the squad.”