
The Millers team saw the return of Tom Richardson and Amir Berkane after missing last game through injury and new signing Bobby Vaughan from Stenhousemuir was on the bench, and Mitchell Ware, on loan from Ipswich, made his home debut and potentially final appearance with David Hughes returning from that three-match suspension.
We started the game off on the front foot for the first five minutes, forcing a few corners, one came to Conor Mead who looked to have had his shirt half pulled off his back, despite half shouts for a penalty, the ball was cleared and nothing was given.
Bury Town were searching for a win to take them closer to the play-off places and forced a succession of corners which saw a headed effort hooked off the line from an Aveley player.
Two minutes after that chance and the visitors took the lead, great work down the left hand side from Emmanuel Machaya, he centered for Ollie Hughes who slammed home the ball for Bury past Mitchell Ware to put the visitors ahead. Aveley 0-1 Bury Town.
The Millers weren't disheartened by it and started to create a few half chances, Tom Richardson played an early free-kick down the right hand side to Conor Mead, he crossed into the box to Andy Freeman who saw his goalwards header deflected behind for a corner. The resulting corner was caught well by Bury's keeper, he started a counter-attack which saw the visitors get their own corner, which was also dealt well with by the keeper at the other end Mitchell Ware who came and collected.
On the 20 minute mark, Tom Richardson had a glorious chance from a corner kick which he hooked towards the goal, he beat the keeper but Joe White cleared the ball off the line and it was scrambled away.
Five minutes later and the visitors threatened to add to their lead, Cemal Ramadan made a darting run from the right wing across the box and onto his left foot, too aim at goal but was denied by a fine finger-tipped save from Mitchell Ware.
That save proved crucial as a couple of minutes after that we leveled. It was good build-up play with three players involved, Alex Akrofi looked to try and put the ball on his right foot to shoot but couldn't as he was being well marked, he passed it to Jason Raad who swept the ball into the corner from 15 yards for his first goal for the club. Aveley 1-1 Bury Town.
After that equaliser we seemed to just have a bit more belief that we could go on and take the lead. Jason Raad passed out wide to Conor Mead, Conor zipped the ball across the six yard box to Tom Richardson who slid and just couldn't hook it in with his left foot from a tight angle.
Minutes later Tom Richardson, had a great chance, he was played through by Alex Akrofi, the ball didn't seem to just sit well for Tom to strike, when he did on his left foot Luis Tibbles in the Bury goal did well to make the save his with legs to deny the Millers from taking the lead.
We weren't to be denied the lead for very long with five minutes left of the half Tom Richardson was put in by Andy Freeman, and Tom made no mistake by finishing well with the outside of his right foot past Tibbles to put the Millers ahead for the first time in the game. Aveley 2-1 Bury Town.
Half Time | Aveley 2-1 Bury Town.
The second half was a bit of a non-event for the Millers, we just didn't really get started and lacked penetration to carve open real clear cut chances as the visitors stayed so compact when they needed too and a very high line.
Two minutes into the half and the visitors equalised. From an Aveley viewpoint it was defended very poorly, a simple set-piece was crossed onto the head of Ollie Hughes, unmarked and four yards from goal, and he made no mistake by heading past Mitchell Ware, who had no chance of stopping that. Aveley 2-2 Bury Town.
We should've taken the lead just before the hour mark, Tom Richardson was first denied by the legs of Tibbles, the ball sat up nicely for Alex Akrofi who just couldn't make the required contact on the ball to take it into the net and the ball spun away and cleared.
The Millers tried to make changes with Freddie Gard, new signing Bobby Vaughan, and Loui Hazelwood coming on to add more attacking options to get the winner, but it just wasn't coming.
Bury were dangerous on the counter-attack as Mitchell Ware had to be alert to deny Emmanuel Machaya scoring after he used his pace to get in behind our backline, Ware got down well and made the save.
Loui Hazelwood had a half chance as him and fellow sub Freddie Gard combined, but Loui saw his effort flash across the face of goal and go safely behind for a goal kick for the visitors.
The game did unfortunately end on a sour note as Bury Town's midfielder Joe Carden looked to have twisted his knee off the ball, and everyone at Aveley Football Club wishes him a speedy recovery and hopefully it's not as bad as what is first feared.
Full Time | Aveley 2-2 Bury Town.
Attendance | 272.
Millers XI | Mitchell Ware, Conor Mead, Sam Mvemba, James Love, Harry Gibbs, Connor Witherspoon, Jason Raad (Bobby Vaughan 71), Amir Berkane (Freddie Gard 79), Tom Richardson, Andy Freeman, Alex Akrofi (Loui Hazelwood 84).
Unused subs | Marcus Milner, Wyan Reid.
Bury Town XI | Luis Tibbles, Ryley Scott, Ryan Stafford, Emmanuel Machaya, Joe White, Kyran Clements, Ryan Horne, Joe Carden (Tanner Call 88), Ollie Hughes, Cemal Ramadan (Joshua Revell 65), Jake Chambers-Shaw (Harry Brown 90).
Unused subs | George Bugg.