A brace from former Sky Blues striker Leon Clarke was enough to edge the Shakers past City at Gigg Lane
Two goals from old boy Leon Clarke – the second a highly controversial penalty – condemned the Sky Blues to defeat against one of their rivals in the play-off zone.
City’s cause looked hopeless when that spot kick put them 2-0 adrift four minutes into the second half, but experienced substitutes Marcus Tudgay and Marc Antoine Fortune inspired a splendid comeback and the Shakers were hanging on for dear life once Reda Johnson headed in just after the hour mark.
Bury made the breakthrough in all-but inevitable circumstances. Hussey won a cheap free-kick from Vincelot on the edge of the area and, with City’s defence expecting an aerial delivery, the full-back slotted in a ground-level pass for Leon Clarke to drill into the corner from 12 yards.
The wander-lust striker threat almost doubled the lead on the half-hour, Burge standing up well to field his chop after play had been allowed to continue despite Cameron’s clear foul on Murphy.
But the Sky Blues had a golden chance to level two minutes later, O’Brien finding Armstrong who surprisingly fired wide with 20 yards with Lainton badly out of position.
Cameron, a graduate of the Sky Blues Academy, almost added to his old side’s misery when he smacked a close-range header against the bar from Hussey’s inswinging corner.
Four minutes into the second-half, the Shakers were gifted their second goal. Referee Miller seemed happy enough that it was six of one and half-a-dozen of the other as Clarke and Johnson went shoulder-to-shoulder in the box but, to City’s dismay, the linesman flagged for a penalty.
Martin was booked for complaining as Ricketts did his best to distract Clarke but although Burge guessed right and got his hand to the low-kick it ricocheted up into the net.
Mowbray pitched on Tudgay and Fortune for the final half-hour but it was Johnson who clawed them back into contention, heading home from close range as Bury made a mess of defending Armstrong’s corner.
Lainton denied City an equaliser with a brilliant point-blank save when Vincelot’s flicked pass left Tudgay momentarily in the clear.
Moments later Riley was inches away from turning Ricketts’s cross into his own net and Lainton then had to react sharply to parry Fortune’s 25-yard blast.
The keeper was a flat-footed spectator as Ricketts unleashed a ferocious 20-yarder against the bar and as City maintained the pressure Stokes slice wide from a good position.
It was one-way traffic as City poured forward towards their own fans, Johnson pitched up front for the five minutes of overtime, but Bury ran down the clock and almost rubbed salt into Sky Blues wounds when they broke away but Burge got down to deny Clarke his hat-trick.
It was belatedly confirmed that there were 1,041 City fans in the 4,526-strong Gigg Lane crowd.
Posted: Sat Sep 26, 2015 3:19 pm