SHAKERS 1, BRISTOL ROVERS 1: For the second week in succession a Bolton-born player sent the Shakers fans home happy with a stunning goal.

Last week Dave Flitcroft's 90th minute piledriver won his side a vital three points against Cambridge United. On Saturday it was the turn of fellow midfielder Simon Whaley who cracked home a superb 30-yard screamer to earn Graham Barrow's men a point.

Whaley's strike arrived in the 77th minute and came just as the doubts were being raised as to whether the Shakers could breach the Rovers defence.

Visiting keeper Kevin Miller pulled off some great stops to deny Dwayne Mattis and Chris Porter and his hard work was in sharp contract to his Bury counterpart Glyn Garner who had a relatively easy time of it.

Nevertheless, there was nothing the former Birmingham custodian could do to stop Whaley's effort which was his long-awaited first goal of the campaign.

The Shakers were quick out of the traps and Miller pulled off a magnificent one handed save from a Dwayne Mattis shot that looked destined for the top corner.

So it was against the run of play when Bristol took the lead on the half hour. The Shakers defence failed to deal with a long-range free-kick from Craig Hinton and the ball broke kindly for Craig Disley whose low effort went through a crowd of players and deceived Garner.

Knocked out of their stride somewhat by the goal, the Shakers didn't threaten Miller for the rest of the half and were forced to reshuffle when defender John Fitzgerald failed to appear after the break due to an Achilles problem.

Newby had a good call for a penalty turned down after 47 minutes while he was pushed to the ground by Steve Elliott. But referee Phil Prosser adjudged the infringement to have taken place on the edge of the area.

Three minutes later Newby sent Porter through on goal and only the quick thinking of Miller saved the day for the visitors as he raced out of his box to clear from the Bury striker.

Once Whaley's stunning strike found the net the Shakers went full steam ahead for the winner.

Flitcroft had his eye on a repeat of his heroics seven days earlier with a 20-yard drive in the 89th minute but lightning failed to strike twice and his effort flew well wide.

"I thought we played better than we did when we beat Cambridge last week," said Barrow.

"The players showed great character to fight back against a team which I believe are the division's big under-achievers.

"There are signs that we are getting back to playing the good football that got us up the table in the first half of the season. But we really must press home our advantage when we get behind teams.

"Too often we get in good positions but fail to carve out chances."

Shakers: Garner, Unsworth, Challinor, Fitzgerald (Barry-Murphy 46), Woodthorpe, Whaley, Mattis, Flitcroft, Kennedy (Kazim-Richards 70), Porter, Newby.

Subs not used: Collinge, Scott, Savage.

Referee: Mr P. Prosser (Gloucestershire)

Attendance: 2,132