Bury 1 Oxford United 2

Tuesday 21st March 2000...Derek Lilley and Jamie Cook win it for United...Gigg Lane sees a dramatic finish but it is despair for Bury...

Report by Ben Walker at Gigg Lane

Andy Preece's hapless Shakers looked to have earned an unlikely point from an awful match at Gigg Lane this evening, when club captain Nick Daws thundered home an 89th minute header from a Paul Reid corner, cancelling out Derek Lilley's early opener for United. However, only seconds later, and deep into injury time, former Shaker Lilley was allowed to dribble into the Bury penalty area unchallenged, before his shot was turned in by Jamie Cook.

Bury's sad spiral of catastrophic decline continues, with only 2,606 supporters, including a meagre following from Oxford, foolhardy enough to still support their failing team. Another defeat against one of the division's weakest outfits plunges Bury further into relegation difficulties, and with the transfer deadline looming large, and the Gigg Lane club still to release details of any transfer deals, it promises to be a very tough run-in for Andy Preece, Steve Redmond and their players. Their last victory in all competitions came in early February, and the Shakers have scored on only one occasion in the last three games.

United's Derek Lilley, a striker actually signed on loan by Neil Warnock in 1999 when his Bury side suffered similar goalscoring problems in the First Division, struck for the U's with only nine minutes played. Steve Anthrobus powered forward through the centre of the pitch and eventual matchwinner Jamie Cook's shot was deflected towards Lilley. The former Shaker wasted no time in despatching the ball into the roof of Patrick Kenny's net thus landing a vital blow in the relegation dogfight for United. Either side of Lilley's goal, and the Shakers looked to have taken the lead with two starkly contrasting efforts. Dean Barrick's looping cross from the right hand side found Andy Preece at the back post and his weak header back towards goal caused diificulties in the Oxford defence, and then on 12 minutes Lutel James sent a scorching volley narrowly over the crossbar following Paul Reid's pass.

Bury's awful build-up play hardly warranted a serious goalscoring chance though, and had Oxford's Matt Murphy not sent a badly controlled effort over the crossbar on 14 minutes whilst unmarked, the visitors could have entered the interval in an even more commanding position. Murphy, the U's leading goalscorer this season, also squandered a glorious United opportunity on 32 minutes, when Kenny unknowingly pushed Steve Anthrobus' angled drive into the path of the 15-goal hitman. Murphy though amazingly crashed a poor effort into the side-netting.

For all his tireless running and unpredictable dribbling, Bury's supporters are yet to see the best of their Kosovan-Swede forward Kemajl Avdiu. After an appalling performance at the JJB Stadium on Saturday afternoon, Avdiu was back in the side for this defeat, and created a rare opportunity for the Shakers five minutes before the break. Darting to the by-line after receiving a short corner kick, Avdiu lashed an inviting low cross into the area, only for centre-back Sam Collins to meet it with a lame effort, as the ball incredibly shot upwards and over the crossbar from close range.

After some promising glimpses of skill and endeavour in previous games, Indian international Baichung Bhutia was granted an extended period of play when he replaced Avdiu at half-time, but it was Murphy again who should have sealed the game for the visitors just before the hour mark, when he missed an open goal with Kenny grounded. Adrian Littlejohn escaped a sending off immediately after coming on as a substitute, when he stupidly thumped Paul Powell in the face following a fracas between the two at a throw-in. However, a more positive contribution from the flying winger almost levelled the tie when his powerful shot from twenty yards was acrobatically tipped over by Knight.

Paul Reid delivered his first quality flag kick of an infuriating evening for the Shakers' supporters, and skipper Daws met it with a thumping header to leave Knight no chance with one minute remaining in the game. However, Bury's weak defence collapsed one last time to allow Lilley and Cook to combine for the fatal winner.

DEREK LILLEY...ONE GOAL AND ONE ASSIST

NICK DAWS...LOOKED TO HAVE SAVED BURY

Attendance 2,606

Line-up Patrick Kenny (MOM), Nick Daws, Sam Collins, Darren Bullock, Paul Reid, Kemajl Avdiu, Lutel James, Steve Redmond, Andy Preece, Dean Barrick, Matt Barrass.

Substitutes Paul Williams, Chris Billy, Baichung Bhutia (on for Avdiu), Adrian Littlejohn (on for James), Danny Swailes.

Positions Bury stay in 18th place, Oxford move up to 19th but have played three games more than Bury.

Gigg Lane's lowest crowd for a league game in 5 years witnessed a depressingly poor performance, and the result saw the relegation trap door open for the Shakers who have won only twice this year. Oxford looked poor defensively, but Bury were unable to take advantage, manager Andy Preece had a couple of headers well saved and it was from the second that Oxford got the ball upfield quickly for ex shaker Derek Lilley to put the visitors in front. The long awaited introduction of Baichung Bhutia in the second half looked promising in the early stages but the truth is that Oxford could have scored several more but for the efforts of player of the season, rookie keeper Paddy Kenny. Just as the very unhappy "crowd" were streaming home,skipper Nicky Daws bagged an equaliser with a header from a corner, and judging from his reaction, Bury's longest serving and best all time buy, won't be sorry should he leave the club before the deadline. The drama was yet to unfold into farce, as with seconds remaining and a point seemingly dragged from the jaws of defeat, schoolboy howler defending allowed Cook to bag a winner for the visitors. Bury are making life very hard to bear for their loyal, if diminishing number of supporters.

Oxford grabbed three vital points in their battle against relegation as this basement scrap at Gigg Lane took a remarkable late twist. Derek Lilley put the visitors ahead after only nine minutes, adding the final touch to Matt Murphy's drive from the edge of the penalty area. Bury, who went into this match without a win in six matches, thought they had snatched a point when they equalised with just a minute of normal time remaining. Nick Daws, strongly linked with a pre-deadline move away from the club, headed in from Paul Reid's corner. But the Shakers were still to be denied, as Murphy fed Cook to score the winner in the dying seconds.

The Shakers lost 2-1 at home to Oxford and slipped further into the relegation mire after Jamie Cook scored the winning goal in the last minute.The visitors took the lead after just nine minutes, but the Shakers equalised through Nicky Daws in the 89th minute only for Oxford to win it in injury time after a goalmouth scramble.Andy Preece made two changes to the side that lost 1-0 at Wigan at the weekend. He named himself in the starting line-up and Darren Bullock replaced Chris Billy.It was Preece who almost handed the Shakers the initiative in this relegation tussle, but his early effort was saved by Richard Knight. But straight away Oxford scored when Matt Murphy's effort was parried by Paddy Kenny only for the transfer-listed Derek Lilley to smash home the loose ball.The visitors hung on for another 80 minutes after Bury had the lion's share of possession. It was Daws who headed in after a corner from the right and it looked as though The Shakers had earned a point. But, Oxford scored the vital winning goal in injury time, Murphy caused all sorts of problems for the Bury defence and Jamie Cook bundled the ball home after a goalmouth scramble.The defeat leaves Bury just six points away from the drop zone and just four points ahead of tonight's opponents from the Manor Ground.