Bury's level best

But he'd still rather his Bury side had not rolled out the red carpet for his former team in the way they did on Saturday.

A combination of both indifferent defending and wasteful finishing allowed City to leave Gigg Lane with a point they scarcely deserved.

The word 'mugged' was being bandied about after the match, but the Shakers only had themselves to blame against a newly promoted side lacking in confidence.

In fact, it could have been even worse for the Shakers had Colin Woodthorpe not tripped Michael Branch when the Seals' striker went racing through on goal in the dying seconds.

Woodthorpe, who began his career with City, almost certainly saved his side a point by his 'professional' misdemeanour and will now face a second suspension of the campaign.

City arrived in Lancashire with just one point to their name from their opening three league matches with the loss of manager Mark Wright 24 hours before their opening league game a big contributory factor in their dodgy start.

With that in mind the Shakers were under orders to put the visitors under pressure from the first whistle.

But they failed to do that and gifted City the lead in the 22nd minute when an under-hit back-pass from skipper Dave Challinor left goalkeeper Glyn Garner stranded, and Kevin Rapley set up Michael Branch for an easy goal.

It was just what the Shakers didn't need against a team that was clearly grateful for a confidence-booster.

Chris Porter might have levelled a minute later when he got on the end of a smart through ball from Dave Nugent, but he hit his effort over the bar.

Then five minutes later, following good work from Challinor and Tom Kennedy on the left, Dwayne Mattis headed a good chance over from five yards.

It was all the more frustrating for the Shakers that they went into the half time break a goal down against a side that had shown virtually nothing up front.

However, they came out in the second half a lot more businesslike and began carving up an increasingly fragile-looking Chester defence.

After 53 minutes Nugent set up Mattis just inside the box, but the former Huddersfield man hit a tame effort into the arms of City keeper Wayne Brown.

But just before the hour mark the Shakers did restore parity thanks to a well-taken goal from Porter.

Nugent reacted quickly to a poor clearance from Brown and, midway in the Chester half, fed Lee Unsworth steaming down the right flank.

Unsworth's pinpoint cross found Porter ghosting in at the near post and he expertly guided the ball between Brown and the upright for a fine finish and his first goal of the season.

For the next ten minutes Bury had their visitors well and truly on the rack.

Kennedy delivered a number of excellent crosses from the left that no-one had the wherewithal to get on the end of, while Porter was desperately unlucky to see a goal-bound effort blocked on the line by Phil Bolland.

A minute later, a cushioned header by Challinor almost set up Unsworth, who came off worst in a collision with Brown and was immediately replaced by Simon Whaley.

Mattis had a glorious chance to grab the winner in the 89th minute when Nugent sent him clear for a one-on-one with Brown but, frustratingly, the former Huddersfield man allowed the City keeper to block.

That miss looked all the more costly when, seconds later, Woodthorpe was forced to do his dirty deed but thankfully, from the Shakers' point of view, the subsequent free-kick taken by Kevin Ellison was blocked by their defensive wall.

Yet it wasn't all doom and gloom in the final analysis.

Once again the Shakers showed they are more than capable of dominating sides and creating good opportunities, but the sooner the unforced errors at the other end of the field are eradicated the better.

Also, the performance of former Huddersfield central defender Paul Scott on his debut was very encouraging and Barrow is understandably keen to secure the services of the 24-year-old who is currently at Gigg on a non-contract basis.

"If you make mistakes like we did you're always going to make trouble for yourself," said Barrow.

"But to our credit we came back with all guns blazing in the second half.

"If we'd have started that way at three o'clock we'd have had all three points.

"There's no complaints about the effort the players put in, we just needed someone to get on the end of those good crosses we were putting in.

"I can't complain about the sending off either, if there's such thing as a good red card that was one.

"But it'll be disappointing to lose Colin again, he's done well when he's been on the pitch."

BURY FORMGUIDE: Garner 7, Unsworth 7 (Whaley 72), Kennedy 7, Scott 7, Challinor 6, Woodthorpe 6, Mattis 6, Flitcroft 7, Barry-Murphy 6, Nugent 8, Porter 8 (Dunfield 90). Subs not used: Newby, Duxbury and Smith.

REFEREE: Mr K. Woolmer (Northampton)

ATTENDANCE: 2,870