BURY virtually guaranteed themselves League Two survival with this point at Edgeley Park while Stockport must endure a nervous final day of the season to see if they can still make the play-offs.
Jim Gannon's side dropped out of the top seven with this result after failing to break down the Shaker's defence.
The game had the frenetic opening typical of a local derby with chances at both ends. Anthony Pilkington turned Adam Griffin's free kick across the face of the Bury goal in the second minute and Adam Proudlock had a left footed drive saved by Andy Warrington.
But Bury settled the better and controlled the rest of the first half.
The closest they came to breaking the deadlock was when Stockport keeper Joe Lewis raced to the edge of his area and Andy Bishop was able to take the ball to the side of him only to see his shot headed clear by Gareth Owen.
Stockport appeared to have conquered their early nerves with a rousing start to the second half, but in the 55th minute the home defence failed to deal with a Bury corner and Paul Scott struck the top of the crossbar with a snapshot from the edge of the six yard box.
Twice soon after Lewis had to make saves from Tom Youngs, first a header and then a shot at the end of a Bury break.
County turned on the pressure towards the end with Bury happy for a point.
Sub Michael Bowler had the best chance to grab the three points from Pilkington's corner but his low shot was saved by Warrington.
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Congratulations to Bury ! It would have been a tragedy for a team with such a rich history to drop out of the league. If only the people of Bury had a bit of pride in having such a famous team and get down to Gigg Lane once in a while instead of wasting their money watching Man City !
Things went downhill this season after the disgraceful decision by the FA to expel the Shakers from the FA Cup. I wonder whether West Ham will be allowed to play in next season's competition after playing ineligible players in the cup this year ?
So it comes down to two games, County at Darlo & Bristol at 'Pools. On one hand County are struggling for points but Darlo have nowt to play for, it's a meaningless game for them. As for Bristol, they have found a bit of form to make a late run at playoffs but 'Pools need a win their battle with Walsall for the championship. If Bristol lose and County draw we'ld be in on goal difference!
As for the playoffs, I can't help but think they would be a continuation of our recent struggles. I don't however think that we'ld be whipping boys if, by virtue of heroic efforts, we actually got promoted. Results at the end of this season have been disappointing but there is no denying the overall improvement. Last season we were one defeat from non league football (and that was after the most unlikely turnaround in the 2nd half of the season), this season we're playing for a playoff spot on the last day of the season and we've actually already beaten the 66 points total that got Lincoln into the playoffs last year! But even better than what has been accomplished, this team will continue to get better and JG will continue to strengthen the team and squad.
Anybody who thinks that is as easy as taking your shopping cart round Asda and picking everything you need off the shelves and chucking it in your cart................well, do you REALLY believe that? If you do then by all means, call for JG and PW to be sacked. I mean what have they done for SCFC in the last year and a half anyway?
Up the County and long live King Jimbo!
browny
Browny you've stolen my scenario! Lets start with the negatives yesterdays game was as bad as last weeks, how on earth JG thought we played well I don't know but it wasn't the same game I saw, 4-5-1 at home no wonder a striker hasn't scored since Barnet.
Fast forward to 4.50 Sat JG has a big grin on his face when he realises we've pipped Bristol R to the play-offs, a touch of irony there after all the hullabaloo over the game down there. In the play-offs County do a 'Burnley' finishing 15 pts behind MK Dons and then beating the Shrews in the final. Whether we come straight back down, well yes probably but I'd like to see them play Leeds.
Second home game and another poor result, don¿t get me wrong ,I wouldn¿t want to send Bury down, but the performance was shocking.
Why is Dinning even in the squad? we would be better off with one of the kids they would at least try and play football.
But lets be realistic it has been nice being at the top part of the table, lets remember where we were this time last season.
I feel we should stay in this Division try and get some player in for all season , steady the ship and go for it next season.
Should the MEN run a story on Referees
Hi deejaybee, Interesting to read your thoughts on this/next season. Of course you're closer to the action than I am so maybe I'm a bit pessimistic about our chances if we squeaked into the playoffs, I sincerely hope so!
As for whether we would come straight back down again, maybe I'm optimistic this time but I don't think we would. My thinking is that I can't imagine JG not continuing to make the team better and add depth simply because of the huge improvements already made. I can't think of one logical reason why that improvement won't continue. That run we went on was too good and went on too long to be a fluke, so surely we do have a foundation to build on? Next season, if we were in Div 1 then I would be amazed (again!) to see us challenge for promotion, but in Div 1 or Div 2, I strongly believe we will have a team that's stronger again than this year. There's no logical reason to believe otherwise IMO.
I fly Friday arriving at Manchester too late to make the Darlington game but playoffs would be nice and a trip to the new Wembley would really make the long flights worthwhile!
Go on the County,
Jason Taylor is the best midfielder in the Division and we have him playing at full back. Not for one game but 2! It was 75 minutes before the penny dropped with Gannon. This was evidence for me that he's taken us as far as he can. We've no chance of winning at Darlington. Let's face it, the last 9 or 10 performances have been as bad as anything we've seen at County during our miserable last 7 or 8 years and I include the Chester game in that. Snocking, excruciatingly bad, horrible, terrible are all adjectives that it is not fair to use because we weren't that good!!