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 Match Report
Rotherham United 1 Bury 2
Nationwide League Division 2
Saturday 26th August 2000
If they can overcome tiredness and injury, Andy Preece will be looking to the same eleven players who collected all three points at Millmoor this afternoon to make it six out of six over the Bank Holiday weekend when Northampton Town visit Gigg Lane on Monday afternoon. For while Rotherham must negotiate a very demanding trip to Bristol City in two days time, the Shakers must be anticipating their next game with considerable relish after a breathtaking Baichung Bhutia solo effort and an Adrian Littlejohn winner - his second goal of the week - saw them record a second consecutive away win of the league campaign.
Indeed, as Andy Preece suggested afterwards - "The fans who saw us lose 4-1 against Wrexham at Gigg Lane probably can't believe it" - if Bury can develop some sort of consistency in their home form, perhaps the manager's predictions of promotion via the play-offs come May will seem all the more realistic. Today he had his two strikers, Baichung Bhutia and Adrian Littlejohn, to thank for a match-winning combination in what was effectively a very defensive, cautious starting eleven. Bhutia roaring off the mark for the season with a stunning strike three minutes before the break to give Bury the lead - a curling drive which left Rotherham goalkeeper Ian Gray outfoxed as it powered across him and into the net. Then Littlejohn, struggling with an achilles injury which would later force him out of the action in the last ten minutes, turning a Sam Collins long throw-in past Gray to seal the win.
Goals aside though, and the work rate of the new-look forward line will have pleased Preece - even he could not find a place for himself after a week which has seen possibly one of the paciest combinations in the division net three goals between them in two games.
Rotherham though hit back soon after the Bhutia goal which looked set to give Bury a narrow lead going into the break with an equaliser from Rob Scott - the United midfielder angling a header in at the back post as Kenny allowed the ball to weakly squirm home. It wasn't the first time that Kenny had picked the ball out of the back of the net though, in a first half played entirely in a dreary, watery haze which had enveloped Millmoor - Mark Robins looped a header over him and down into the net earlier on but with the flag already up. Then, Robins ecaped Chris Swailes on the edge of the box and with Kenny committed, chipped tamely at the 'keeper who scrambled the ball to safety. It would prove a costly miss for United, as they slipped to a second consecutive home defeat in their first season in Division Two after promotion last season.
by Ben Walker
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