MALDON and Tiptree suffered a narrow 1-0 defeat at Pitching In Isthmian League division north play-off-bound Bury Town in spite of a battling performance on Saturday afternoon, writes LEE WITNEY.

The Jammers welcomed a new manager in the dugout, their fifth in two seasons, in the form of EFL legend Jamie Cureton after the departure of Liam Bailey.

Maldon had the first chance of the afternoon when Harry Phillips’ cross field pass found Louis Britton, but the Jammers’ marksman shot wide from distance after five minutes.

Bury should have taken the lead four minutes later as Luca Collins saved well from Luke Brown.

The rebound fell to Cemal Ramadan, but the usually deadly striker had two attempts blocked from point blank range.

Hakeem Sandah’s trickery was proving a real handful for the Bury defence and he drew a smart save from Charlie Beckwith from distance with 35 minutes played.

Ramadan had another chance snuffed out, this time by a great intervention from Jayden Gipson, as the sides went in level at half-time.

How Maldon didn’t take the lead early in the second half will be a mystery to all of the 643 crowd as well as both sets of players and managers.

Milton Oni, Matt Yates and Phillips all saw shots blocked by desperate Bury defending in quick succession before Sandah again made Beckwith work to earn a corner.

Britton was also denied by more last ditch defending after driving into the box with 15 minutes left to play.

The hosts took a late lead through Louie Arnold who headed home after a succession of corners in the 84th minute.

One last effort from Alfie Mason that he sent wide was as much as the Jammers could muster in response, but there was much to be positive about ahead of a trip to Stowmarket Town on Tuesday night.