Bury 0, Stoke City 0.
"LITTLE by little, bit by bit, I'm going crazy and you're causing it" - Dusty Springfield's 1966 chart hit could be Bury's signature tune at the moment!
Stan Ternent's side seem determined to inch their way to his safety target after Tuesday night's draw against free-falling Stoke added one more precious point to the total.
Victory would have hoisted the Shakers out of the First Division relegation places for the first time in weeks but a longed-for follow up win after Saturday's heroics at Maine Road wasn't to be.
It was a familiar story as solid defence combined with an inability to find the net resulted in a 16th stalemate of the season.
That stretched the Shakers unbeaten run to an encouraging four games, though if you think that news would have left boss Ternent upbeat you'd be sorely mistaken.
"It was probably our worst performance for a long time, we weren't at the races," was his candid after-match conclusion.
With trips to five of the division's top six clubs on the cards in the run-in, the importance of picking up victories at home is clearly not lost on the Bury boss.
Striker Kyle Lightbourne, Stoke's recent £500,000 signing from Coventry and so often a thorn in the Shakers side, missed out on his debut because of a flu bug while for Bury a hamstring strain left Tony Ellis on the sidelines.
Their goalscoring abilities were sadly missed as both sides squandered chances to sew up the match.
The Shakers' best openings arrived in a good early spell starting in the ninth minute when Stoke 'keeper Carl Muggleton pulled off a fine reaction save from a Chris Lucketti header after Lennie Johnrose had flicked on Mark Patterson's corner kick.
A hamstring tweak resulted in Johnrose limping off minutes later to be replaced by Peter Swan.
And the big man was soon in the thick of the action as his blocked effort from the impressive Bryan Small's cross broke to Patterson but the midfielder blasted his effort over the bar from 12 yards.
For the visitors, their Irish double act of Under-21 international midfielder Graham Kavanagh and winger Tony Scully, on loan from Manchester City, provided their best moments.
Scully's trickery and direct running was a constant threat down the left and it begged the question as to why City can afford him to perform so well for their relegation rivals! Meanwhile, Kavanagh was in the thick of all Stoke's best work and should have broken the deadlock in the 13th minute when a neat one-two with Ally Pickering put him in on a one-on-one with Dean Kiely.
As the 1,200 Stoke fans in the Manchester Road End got set to roar their side into the lead, Kiely spread himself superbly and Kavanagh's driven effort ricocheted off him for a corner.
The former Middlesbrough ace turned provider in the 32nd minute when he shrugged off two challenges in a powerful run.
His incisive ball found Dean Crowe who in turn set up Pickering to his right but the full-back's fiercely driven strike flew across the face of the Bury goal.
Three minutes after the interval the Bury goal had an amazing escape when Scully's 25-yard shot on the run took a bounce in front of Kiely that would have done credit to the Sabina Park wicket!
The ball spun off the Bury 'keeper's chest and broke to Crowe whose powerful first time shot cannoned off Kiely's right-hand post and away to safety.
On the hour Kiely was happy to palm another vicious Kavanagh shot round the post as Stoke enjoyed their best period of the match but the Shakers thought they had broken the deadlock after 72 minutes when Gordon Armstrong fired past Muggleton, however referee Paul Robinson adjudged him to have fouled Paul Holsgrove in the build-up.
With Shakers fans making their way to the exits Bury almost grabbed a dramatic late winner three minutes from time with their best move of the match.
After a sweeping move out of defence the ball found itself at the feet of substitute Tony Rigby, wide on the right edge of the box.
He turned Australian international Danny Tiatto inside out before delivering a superb cross to the far post where Armstrong agonisingly powered his header against Pickering on the line.
Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.
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