NIGEL SALUTES CRUCIAL POINT
NIGEL Clough highlighted the significance of a point gained as he watched his ten-man Burton Albion snatch a late draw.
It looked like the visitors would head back to Lancashire with a shock win when Ryan Lowe headed home with 16 minutes remaining.
The goal came just moments after Burton’s Hamza Choudhury was sent off for a second bookable offence.
But in stoppage time, substitute Tyler Walker, on loan from Nottingham Forest, equalised on his debut to earn Burton a valuable draw.
Despite sacrificing top spot to Wigan Athletic, Clough reckons the point could be crucial in the Brewers’ quest for promotion to the Championship.
“It’s an incredible point given the circumstances and we think it could be a very important one,” said Clough. “It’s a point gained on Walsall, which I think is the biggest reason.
“It feels like a win. We feel as though we should have had a win over the course of the game up to the sending off. It seemed as though we were going to get nothing from the game until the last few minutes.
“The spirit was epitomised by the last few minutes. It’s taken some good old-fashioned wingplay from Lucas [Akins] and Tyler Walker is in where most good strikers should be.”
The Shakers, with only one away win in their previous 13 matches, had the first chance inside three minutes.
Chris Hussey’s corner was met by Tom Pope, whose header was saved by Jon McLaughlin.
Pope had another chance on 34 minutes, but headed over from Danny Mayor’s cross.
Nathan Delfouneso almost made an immediate impact for Bury after coming on at half-time, but his shot from close range was blocked by McLaughlin.
He had an even better chance to score on 67 minutes. He found-himself one-on-one with McLaughlin, but inexplicably shot wide.
The visitors were controlling proceedings and their cause was helped when Choudhury’s foul on 70 minutes earned him a second yellow card.
Four minutes later, Bury broke the deadlock. Lowe, who had only come on as a substitute a couple of minutes earlier, headed in Dan Gardner’s cross from a couple of yards.
That looked to be enough, but in the 92nd minute Akins found Walker, who flicked home from close range to spare Burton’s blushes and deny Bury a surprise win.
“The plan was to get at Burton and really try to unsettle them and ruffle some feathers. And we did do, brilliantly,” said Bury boss David Flitcroft. “But credit to this Burton team, they’ve found a way of not losing and stuck to their task.
“I thought we navigated the game really well.
“We showed a real spirit and fight and had bags of quality. It’s a performance that deserved three points.
“I’m disappointed with the goal in the dying minutes.”