Bury Town boss Cole Skuse sees momentum as key to promotion via the Isthmian League play-offs ahead of regular season ending at Wroxham after derby win against Mildenhall Town
Bury Town boss Cole Skuse sees building on Easter Monday’s derby win against Mildenhall Town in their final fixture, at relegation-threatened Wroxham tomorrow (3pm), as key in their bid to unlock the door to promotion via the play-offs.
Having seen Brentwood Town get over the line to secure the Pitching In Isthmian League North Division title at the end of the bank holiday weekend, the Blues’ 2-1 victory saw them secure a home tie in the play-off semi-finals on Tuesday (7.45pm).
But with a victory at 17th-placed Wroxham tomorrow set to guarantee they would also be at Ram Meadow for the play-off final, a week tomorrow (3pm), Skuse will not be letting his players let their focus wane this weekend.
On their approach to the game, knowing they lead Felixstowe & Walton United in third by two points, he said: “With the same mindset, it has to be. We spoke loads the last few weeks about momentum and flow into the latter part of the season.
“It's a bit of a trend within football, they say the team that finishes second or third with that disappointment of not winning the league can lose their momentum.
“But we're very much looking for that momentum rolling into the last few games this season.”
And although it ended up not working out for them last time around, having also finished runners-up ahead of losing to an extra-time goal against Brentwood in the final, the Bury boss believes that full home advantage can be key.
“That would be a big advantage to have as well,” he said of a home final.
“It is big for any club in any league in the world to have home ties to create that extra little bit of revenue for the club and it's brilliant for us, really.”
Bury will head up to Wroxham looking for a third straight win after beginning the Easter weekend with a 4-0 victory at already-relegated Sporting Bengal United. Mikey Davis helped himself to two goals (49’, 61’) after fellow wing-back Max Maughn had broke the deadlock in first-half stoppage time. Luke Brown then wrapped up the scoring five minutes from time.
Monday’s derby saw one of the rested players, Cemal Ramadan, capitalise on a 70th-minute collision between Mildenhall’s otherwise excellent keeper Josh Pope and captain Luke Butcher to seal a 2-1 victory with a perfectly-measured lob. His 27th league goal of the campaign came after Taylor Parr’s 19th-minute header at a corner had replied to a controversial fifth-minute penalty, tucked away by Jarid Robson after Olly Hughes had gone down under the attentions of Josh Curry.
Skuse said: “Fair play to them (Mildenhall), they made it really, really difficult for us, but I was really pleased with our performance from the very, very start to the very, very end.
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“We played with a real purpose and we played with a tempo.”
Should they remain in second place, Bury would host Brightlingsea Regent on Tuesday (7.45pm), who they lost both games to: 1-0 away on March 22 and 2-1 at home on December 21.
