Player bust-up mars Gigg win
4:53pm Monday 23rd January 2012 in Bury FC
A BIZARRE on-field row between Giles Coke and captain Steven Schumacher took the shine off a fantastic three points for Bury at Gigg Lane on Saturday.
The Shakers were 2-1 up and motoring on 20 minutes, following goals from Schumacher and an unlikely header from full-back Joe Skarz, which sandwiched a scrambled effort from Yeovil’s Ryan Dickson.
And when Coke was bundled over in the box on 34 minutes after Sweeney’s clever reverse pass sliced through the Glovers’ defence to find his run perfectly, it looked like Bury were going to win by a cricket score.
Coke, who had scored a penalty for the Shakers against Notts County earlier in the season, picked up the ball and marched to the spot like a man on a mission.
Schumacher intercepted him and, initially, it looked like he was giving his midfield partner – who was making his second home debut after resigning on loan from Shefffield Wednesday – a spot of captainly advice.
But an ugly tussle ensued as Schumacher tried to wrestle the ball from the 25-year-old midfielder, and it looked like they were ready to start slugging it out in the Yeovil penalty area before Peter Sweeney and Efe Sodje arrived to prise them apart.
A number of Bury players joined them, and Schumacher eventually came out of the melee with the ball, while Coke was dragged away to cool off.
“When he came back off his loan I said to him that I’m the penalty taker,” said Schumacher after the game.
“I said to him again today that I would be taking the penalties, so for him to pick the ball up and for it to turn out like that, is a bit disappointing.”
After both Coke and Schumacher were booked by referee Mark Heywood, the Bury captain held his nerve and fired the spot kick past Yeovil’s debutant goalkeeper Sam Walker to make it 3-1.
But the incident clearly affected the Bury players, who never reached the same heights after that.
And Schumacher was still stewing about it after the match, which his side held on to win despite a late comeback following substitute Steve Maclean’s 87th-minute strike.
“I think it definitely went too far,” he said. “When two players are getting booked for fighting between themselves in the opposition’s penalty box then it’s not right, is it?
“It was disappointing for it to happen and I don’t want it to happen again.”
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