In the blazing heat over Gigg Lane Bury had to dig deep to find an equaliser against a dogged Longridge Town who had lead for almost the whole match.

Following on from the disappointment midweek of losing a narrow lead late in the match Andy Welsh went with a more attacking lineup playing 4-4-2 to allow Lowe and Briggs to start together, giving starts to Saj Elhassan and Jack Lenehan but kept the same backline from the last two matches. On the bench there were returns for Jimmy Moore, Connor Comber and a new face, midfielder Ben McKenna.

The match could not have got off to a worse start. A long ball forward by the visitors found left winger Jack Anderton, he slipped in behind the Bury defence, got to the ball ahead of the oncoming Jack Tinning and slotted the ball past Atkinson into the bottom corner to give Longridge the lead after barely eighty seconds from their first foray forward.

Boasting a number of young quick players up front Longridge threatened for much of the early stages as their counter-attacks repeatedly harassed the Bury defence. Scott Harries and Morgan Homson-Smith combined well on the right and Homson-Smith’s curling effort was just wide of the post. Daniel Wilkinson headed wide from a free header at a corner while Homson-Smith should have doubled his side’s advantage lifting a Harries low cross over the bar from a yard out.

Bury had early chances of their own, Benito Lowe had headed a Gaz Peet cross wide while an Elhassan cross had to be scrambled away for a corner before it could reach Obasoto at the far post but the pressure of finding an equaliser was tempered by the fear of counter-attacks often leading Bury to be outnumbered in the attacking third.

Bury’s best chance fell to Lowe, set through by Peet he turned his body to attempt a curling effort to the top corner. So far this season this meant a goal for the Shakers but this time the ball spun just wide of the post.

The second half began with Bury pushing for a goal and continued in that fashion for the rest of the afternoon. The once damaging attack of Longridge had largely petered out as for the rest of the match the visitors stayed defensively solid and disciplined, often resorting to sticking nine or ten players behind the ball.

Andy Welsh added McKenna, Brazel, and Jordi Nsaka to improve the link-ups between midfield and attack and switched to 3-5-2 allowing for an extra man in midfield without sacrificing the front two and this proved to be an effective formation. Briggs played in by Hollins would surely have scored but for a good save by Kier Barry. A Lowe shot following a McKenna cross was blocked away as both the Longridge back four and their midfield crammed into the six-yard box.

Eventually, Bury got the goal their efforts deserved, a deep cross by Tinning was only partially cleared and fell to Benito Lowe. He scuffed his effort but it bounced goalwards and settled into the back of the net with six minutes of normal time to play.

As aching players pushed the last of their energy in the late summer heatwave Bury had a couple more chances to again win a late contest in stoppage time but the final ball never quite fell for the home side. The final whistle came giving Bury a second 1-1 draw of the week though at least on this occasion the late equaliser was theirs.