Archived News from November 2005
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STAGSNET`S STATISTICAL PREVIEW
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Two League Two sides which in a space of a few mid-September days changed their managers, face each other at Field Mill on Friday night. While Carlton Palmer resigned as Stags manager only minutes after the 2-0 defeat at Rochdale on September 17, Graham Barrow was sacked by Bury two days later, also due to disappointing league results. While the Stags now have appointed Peter Shirtliff as manager, Bury now have the youngest one in the whole league pyramid. The tale is of Chris Casper. He, too, was caretaker manager for a while before being appointed. And since the appointments, both sides have climbed out of the immediate drop zone with the Shakers one point and one position above the Stags in the league classement.
But before the 1957-58 season, Bury had spent the whole of their league life in the top two divisions – and even twice been FA cup winners, 1900 and three years later without conceding a goal – best league position 5th in the old first division as far back as 1925-26, just five years before the Stags' election to the League. And in 1957-58, the Shakers found themselves in the third level of the last season of the old 3rd division set-up. And the first-ever league meetings between the teams were won by the Stags, 2-0 away on November 9, 1957 and 6-4 at Field Mill on April 19, 1958, the latter game being the one with most goals scored (Stags goals Barrie Thomas 3, Dennis Uphill, Stanley Keery and Charlie Mitten, attendance 10354). Both teams were to be founder members of the old third division at the end of 1957-58 with Bury finishing fourth and the Stags just two ranks below. Since 1957-58, the stats at Field Mill have been quite even with one third of the games being drawn and just equal number of Stags and Bury wins with the Shakers winning three of the last four Field Mill fixtures before last season, the latest 5-1 on October 28, 1995 when a certain Phil Stant, Stags top scorer with 26 goals in the 1991-92 promotion season, hit a brace for Bury. But it was not the only Bury 5-1 win in Stagsland, the first being played on January 16, 1960 and this was Sam Weaver's last game as Stags manager. . The biggest Stags win was a 5-0 on October 2, 1976 in the division 3 Championship season. Two goals apiece from Kevin Randall and John Miller, one from Paul Matthews completed the rout in front of 6516. And that during a period of nearly 25 years when the teams faced each other very frequently in the old third and fourth divisions, being relegated together in 1979-80. And in two cases of Bury old division four promotions, the Stags have been promoted the following season. This happened in 1974-75 and 1985-86 for the Stags. Furthermore, in the Stags two last promotion seasons, Bury have been relegated! The teams have also faced each other twice in the FA Cup – and both seasons the Stags reached the 5th round! In 1969-70, the Stags won a 1st round replay 2-0 after the first game at Gigg Lane had been drawn 2-2, and in the 1974-75 Championship season, the Stags won a 4th round encounter at Bury 2-1 (attendance there, 16623!). Four of the Stags' five league wins at Gigg Lane have been achieved by the score of 2-0. Here they are: * The first-ever league fixture on November 9, 1957 in the last-ever division 3 (N) campaign. Two goals by Chapman (S), suspended by the Stags in 1964 in the wake of the then match-fixing scandal, contributed to the victory in front of 11895. * Before the game at Gigg Lane on February 23, 1980, the Stags had failed to win away all season (four draws and eleven defeats) and had slipped into the relegation zone due to a twelve-game winless streak (half of them draws) after a 2-1 win against Carlisle on November 6, 1979. When the game at Bury was over, the Stags had smashed the nil in the away wins column to pieces with a 2-0, scorers Pollard and Austin, attended by 3606. This being the first and only Stags double in 1979-80. At the end of that season, Bury were relegated as well but hadn't been that if the three-points ruling had been in force then. * The league fixture on April 6, 1996. The Shakers were fighting auto promo while the Stags were lower mid-table. The home fixture (see above) was lost heavily. So the Stags were seeking revenge. Simon Wood and Steve Harper silenced the Shakers faithful by securing the Stags' last 1995-96 away win in front of 3600. * The most recent league fixture on February 19, 2005. Late goals in each half from Adam Murray and Adam Rundle secured a 2-0 victory at Gigg Lane. Two seasons ago, the teams played a goal feast at Field Mill. In the end, the Stags ran out 5-3 winners, the killer punch delivered by Liam Lawrence four minutes from the final whistle to end Bury's dream of a point (for more details see the Stagsnet match report of that game). And the away one at Gigg Lane was one that Stags fans don't want to talk about, as the Stags crashed 3-0 after a very poor display, one of the worst in the 2003-04 season. The latest Field Mill fixture was played only a few days before the writer's latest trip to Stagsland. The teams played a goal-less draw at Field Mill, in which the Shakers were very lucky to gain a point as the Stags missed an early penalty through Larkin and furthermore hit the post twice. And the goal-less draw last season was only the second all-time one at Field Mill, compared to three at Bury. Both sides come fresh from FA Cup 1st round ties. While the Stags kayoed League One Rotherham at their place to a 4-3 scoreline, the winner hit by ex-Miller Richie Barker in injury time, the Shakers came back from being 2-0 down at home to Scunthorpe, promoted to League One this season, to earn a 2-2 draw and a replay at the Iron. Bury's latest away fixture ended in a 1-1 draw at Keith Curle's current club, Chester, while the Stags routed the league comeback boys Barnet 4-0 in their last home one. Played for both sides: George Anderson, James Ball (early 1900's!!!), Luther Blissett, Laurent D'Jaffo, Eddie Edmonds (1934-35 vintage Stags!), Dave Goodwin, Chris Hackett, Mark Kearney, Keith Kennedy, Adrian Littlejohn, David Lyon, Joe O'Neill, Thomas Peters, John Phillips, Kevin Randall, George Raynor (who later had much success as coach in Sweden, i.e. 1958 WC Finals!), John Ryan, Phil Stant, Matthew Tipton, Alan Tyrer (no mention of him playing for Stags in the 1973-74 Rothmans Football Yearbook while on Workington's books!), Chris Withe. Played for Stags, later managing Bury: Sam Ellis (managed the Shakers between April 1, 1989 and December 11, 1990). And the Sunderland 1973 FA Cup winner's manager, the late Bob Stokoe, managed Bury in two spells. Ian Greaves, the longest-ever serving Stags manager, was later coach at Bury. And the late Billy Ayre, Stags player in 1982-83, coached Bury a few months before he passed away in April 2002. Daniel Tremelling was assistant trainer at Bury in the mid-thirties. Home stats: P 27, W 9, D 9, L 9, GF 40, GA 42 Away stats: P 27, W 5, D 8, L 14, GF 24, GA 40 Season Home Date Away Date 1957-58 6-4 1958-04-19 2-0 1957-11-09 Div 3 (N) 1958-59 0-2 1958-12-13 2-2 1959-04-28 Div 3 (old) 1959-60 1-5 1960-01-16 1-4 1959-09-05 Div 3 (old) 1967-68 1-1 1967-09-30 1-3 1968-02-10 Div 3 (old) 1969-70 3-1 1970-02-23 0-1 1969-09-30 Div 3 (old) 1970-71 1-0 1971-02-13 0-0 1971-01-23 Div 3 (old) 1972-73 1-1 1972-09-09 0-1 1973-01-27 Div 4 (old) 1973-74 1-2 1974-04-01 0-2 1974-01-27 Div 4 (old) 1975-76 1-1 1976-02-23 1-2 1975-09-23 Div 3 (old) 1976-77 5-0 1976-10-02 0-2 1977-03-12 Div 3 (old) 1978-79 3-0 1979-04-21 0-0 1978-12-30 Div 3 (old) 1979-80 1-0 1979-10-13 2-0 1980-02-23 Div 3 (old) 1980-81 2-0 1981-02-07 1-4 1980-09-13 Div 4 (old) 1981-82 1-1 1981-09-19 2-3 1982-01-30 Div 4 (old) 1982-83 1-4 1982-10-09 0-1 1983-02-19 Div 4 (old) 1983-84 1-1 1984-03-17 2-2 1983-10-08 Div 4 (old) 1984-85 0-2 1984-11-24 0-0 1985-04-20 Div 4 (old) 1986-87 1-3 1987-02-07 1-1 1986-09-16 Div 3 (old) 1987-88 0-0 1988-04-23 0-1 1987-11-03 Div 3 (old) 1988-89 1-1 1989-04-22 1-0 1988-09-24 Div 3 (old) 1989-90 1-0 1990-10-02 0-3 1989-09-16 Div 3 (old) 1990-91 0-1 1991-02-05 0-1 1990-09-22 Div 3 (old) 1993-94 2-2 1994-03-26 2-2 1993-10-02 Div 3 1994-95 0-2 1994-09-03 2-2 1995-03-25 Div 3 1995-96 1-5 1995-10-28 2-0 1996-04-06 Div 3 2003-04 5-3 2003-09-16 0-3 2004-03-16 Div 3 2004-05 0-0 2004-10-30 2-0 League Two FA Cup: 1969-70 2-2 1969-11-15 1st round at Gigg Lane 1969-70 2-0 1969-11-19 1st round replay at Field Mill 1974-75 2-1 1975-01-25 4th round at Gigg Lane Svante Bernhard aka Sweden Stag (pictured, above right) Statistical updates courtesy of the Centenary book and some editions of Rothman's Football Yearbook, furthermore the history CD. Bury managerial details courtesy of http://www.soccerbase.com |
Latest | November 2005