Aveley 4, Bury Town 1

MILLERS produced a magnificent performance to blow away the hopes of play-off chasing Bury on Saturday.

Aveley come out of the blocks well and opened the scoring with almost their first attack. Andy Oxby's ball in to the box was met by the head of Ryan Doyle and the effort went low into the back of the net for his first goal since late January.

But the visitors were not going to sit back and with hope of reaching the play offs they fought on, backd by a large contingent of followers from Suffolk. They got themselves on level terms when Lee Smith broke into the box from the left and fired a fierce shot past Adam Rafis at his near post.

Bury continued the high pace and tempo but for all their effort and determination the Millers' defence remained in control, with Rafis in superb form. Aveley weathered the storm and against all the odds went in front again. Bradley Barnes's delivery from the left found its way through to the back post where Ben Bradbury was ready and waiting and although he fluffed his shot it still trickled into the net to give Millers the lead against the run of play.

The home side were keen to end on a high and went further into the lead, and leave their visitors with a mountain to climb if they were going to get anything out of the game.

Wayne Vaughan provided a cross into the box and Barnes was ready at the back post to cut in and shoot low and hard into the net.

Bury were not going to give up and thought they had got them back int the match. Lee Reed's sweetly struck free kick hit the inside of the post and trickled along the line, but not over and was cleared.

Come the second half, Bury tried to get back into the match but found home custodian Rafis once again in top form. Lee Reed delivered a though ball to namesake Sam who waltzed through the Millers' defence only to be denied by a fantastic push around the post from Rafis.

Rafis again denied Bury minutes later when Lee Smith weaved his way into the box and shot goal wards but could not find a way past Rafis.

And after 66 minutes Millers buried Bury's chances of the play offs when, after a defensive mix up, Christian Wheeler reacted quickest and headed past Dean Greygoose.

The rest of the game was played in the middle of the park with little happening in front of goal with the home side comfortably in the lead and the visitors resigned to the fact that it was not going to be their day.

The Millers ended the season on a high, and after the miserable start to the season, can be quite content with their finish and boss Rod Stringer who arrived to turn the campaign around, will build for next season with promotion in mind.

Aveley: Adam Rafis (Phil Skelton 86), Sam Holloway, John Maskell, Ryan Doyle, Kye Ruel, Andy Oxby, Ben Bradbury, Christian Wheeler, Wayne Vaughan (John Bradley 83), Ainsley Gasper, Bradley Barnes. Subs not used: Sean Francis, Manzi Mbala, Keith Rowland.

Ryman Division One North: Final table

		P	W	D	L	F	A	+/-	Pts
C	Dartford	42	27	8	7	107	42	+65	89
2	AFC Sudbury	42	24	8	10	86	40	+46	80
3	Redbridge (-1)	42	24	9	9	70	43	+27	80
4	Ware	42	23	10	9	110	58	+52	79
5	Canvey Island	42	23	10	9	82	39	+43	79
6	Brentwood Town	42	22	11	9	70	49	+21	77
7	Bury Town	42	22	9	11	76	53	+23	75
8	Edgware Town	42	20	14	8	53	39	+14	74
9	Maldon Town	42	19	10	13	78	63	+15	67
10	Northwood	42	18	12	12	71	61	+10	66
11	Aveley	42	18	12	12	68	65	+3	66
12	Enfield Town	42	18	9	15	60	63	-3	63
13	Great Wakering Rovers	42	13	9	20	64	66	-2	48
14	Waltham Abbey	42	12	10	20	42	78	-36	46
15	Arlesey Town	42	12	9	21	64	84	-20	45
16	Witham Town	42	12	5	25	75	109	-34	41
17	Potters Bar Town	42	10	9	23	45	77	-32	39
18	Wingate & Finchley	42	8	11	23	45	72	-27	35
19	Waltham Forest	42	7	12	23	44	74	-30	33
20	Tilbury (-1)	42	7	12	23	49	96	-47	32
R	Ilford	42	8	8	26	47	95	-48	32
R	Wivenhoe Town	42	8	7	27	46	86	-40	31

9:51pm Saturday 26th April 2008

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