Playing United was great: Bhutia

mumbai: football icon bhaichung bhutia is finally beginning to make his mark after struggling to establish himself in his first two years with english division ii side bury fc. bhutia, reports from england indicate, is well on his way to fulfilling the promise he held when leaving indian shores. bhutia was on fire in bury's high-profile friendly against big brother manchester united played on thursday and has also been rated `very impressive' in his club's nationwide season opener on saturday. bury fc won the away match against tranmere rovers 2-1. sharing his man united experience with the times of india from his england residence, bhutia said: ``it was a great experience. we really enjoyed the match and i was satisfied with my performance.'' bhutia once hit the cross-bar and earned a free-kick for bury while keeping the united defence on their toes in an enterprising first-half show __ a performance which earned him rave reviews in the man united and bury fc website write-ups. on what was going through his mind before the match, bhutia said: ``there was excitement among all the players. we (bury) play a lot of friendlies but we were really looking forward to playing man united. moreover we were expecting a good crowd and it was ahouseful at gigg lane (bury's home venue).'' ``it was a once in a lifetime opportunity. though i did not have any specific individual gameplan, i was determined to do well,'' he added. bhutia however did not find any great difference in the skill-level. ``it is teamwork that matters at this grade. at the end of the day it is the basics which matter, your trapping and passing should be perfect, and the speed of play.'' bhutia termed bury fc's victory in their league opener as `a great start' to their campaign. ``tranmere rovers are one of the favourites to go up and the away victory was a great result for us.'' on india's recent tour of england, bhutia said the response was very positive. ``the indian team played well and the matches were close. a couple of them could have gone either way. i was really very happy with the players' performance, we played better than the last tour. it was a great experience for all the players."