Bury FC progress in FA Trophy

Bury FC 3 - 1 Wythenshawe Town

Two of Greater Manchester’s sides faced off in the First Qualifying Round of the FA Trophy.

Author | Adam Devlin

Stadium | Gigg Lane

Bury marked their first outing in the FA Trophy with a win over , thanks to a first-half double from Gabriel Johnson and a composed finish from Kai Evans.

A closer analysis of what happened in Bury

The Shakers, short of defenders with Aaron Chalmers and Scott Duxbury injured and Aiden Walker suspended, were forced into a back four for the first time this season. Up front, Johnson was handed a start ahead of DJ Pedro, who was named on the bench alongside new signing Gavin Massey.

Bury have often struggled to start quickly, but there were no signs of hesitation here. Within four minutes, Bobby Carroll and Evans combined from a short corner, Evans’s cross met by Johnson who glanced in the opener. Johnson almost added another soon after, shooting into the side netting, before forcing Will Owen into a smart save after linking neatly with Bebeto Gomes.

The forward’s persistence paid off midway through the half, pouncing on a cross from Rustam Stepans that Owen failed to gather cleanly, bundling in his second. Barely two minutes later, Kieran Glynn released Evans, who coolly slotted home a third to put Bury in complete control.

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The hosts pressed for more, with Evans rattling the crossbar before half-time, while Town showed flickers of threat through Wealth Da Silva and Danny Edwards, who fired a free-kick narrowly over.

Any hopes of a fightback were briefly raised when Edwards capitalised on a poor pass from Louis Isherwood to reduce the deficit moments after the restart. Yet Bury soon regained their composure, limiting the visitors to half-chances while continuing to press at the other end. Connor Pye and Evans both went close, before Tyler James struck the post with a header.

Late on, debutant Massey almost marked his introduction with a spectacular overhead kick after hitting the woodwork seconds earlier.