Shrewsbury Town 5-0 Bury
- Published
Jean-Louis Akpa Akpro spent the second half of last season on loan with Bury
Jean-Louis Akpa Akpro battered Bury with the first hat-trick of his career as Shrewsbury Town thrashed their League Two promotion rivals.
After putting his side ahead from close range early on, Akpa Akpro headed in his second to make it 3-0, after Connor Goldson had secured goal number two.
The French summer signing from Tranmere Rovers completed his treble on 51 minutes with a low left-footed strike.
Sub Jordan Clark then got the goal of the night, a superb angled volley.
Set up by a neat flick from Ryan Woods on 73 minutes, Clark turned sharply to direct a neat finish past keeper Rob Lainton.
Akpa Akpro began the night with a scant goal return for the season, having scored just once in 14 appearances but, after getting the ball rolling in the third minute he quadrupled his tally in the space of 48 minutes.
The Shrews-Bury connections | |
|---|---|
This time a year ago, Shrewsbury manager Micky Mellon was assistant manager to Bury boss David Flitcroft when he was manager of Barnsley. | |
Shrewsbury's hat-trick hero Jean-Louis Akpa Akpro was strike partner to Bury's Ryan Lowe at Tranmere last season. | |
Lowe started his career with Shrewsbury, spending four and a half years at the old Meadow. while Akpa Akpro had a loan spell at Bury last season. |
His third-minute opener set the tone for the evening against a Bury side stumbling to their third straight away defeat - and the hosts could have won by more.
On a night when Town's League Cup fourth round opponents Chelsea - due at the Meadow next Tuesday night - also enjoyed a huge win in the Champions League, it was Shrewsbury's biggest victory in almost three years.
Bury, who began the night in second, drop to third - just two points ahead of Shrewsbury, who climb to fourth.
Shrewsbury Town manager Micky Mellon told BBC Radio Shropshire:
"Any kind of result was going to be massive for us, to back up a terrific away performance at the weekend. It's a tough league and, if you take your foot off the gas, you can get punished.
"It was a terrific performance to beat a very good Bury side. Any team who finishes above them will find themselves getting promoted. David Flitcroft will get them flying.
"We scored at good times. If Jean-Louis Akpa Akpro added goals to his performances, he probably wouldn't be playing for Shrewsbury, He'd be playing higher up."
Shrewsbury striker Jean-Louis Akpa Akpro told BBC Radio Shropshire:
"I am very happy to score the first hat-trick of my career. But I know I should score more goals. Promotion is the plan but we have to take it game by game.
"I played with Ryan Lowe at Tranmere last season. He had a quiet night, but he is a very good scorer. I learnt a lot from him about finishing. But football can change like that very quickly. And another night he will score a lot of goals."
Bury manager David Flitcroft told BBC Radio Manchester:
"I'm hurting. We've embarrassed the football club. You can get beat, like we did at Exeter, and I know why we lost at Wimbledon, but conceding five goals like this is not something that I represent, that is in my nature, to allow it to be so easy.
"We didn't get to grips with a very good team who made it clear that this was their toughest test of the season. It was an outstanding performance by them, but we aided them with every goal. We didn't have enough to stop them.
"I know we've got a problem away from home, but the buck stops with me, I'm the manager. I pick the team and the formation and it obviously didn't work. I've got a lot of thinking to do and we'll find the answers."