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Cambridge City and Bury Town battled for the spoils on a slightly breezy day in Suffolk. The Lilywhites came into the match having lost just once in the last 14 games, while Bury were winless in three.
It was Bury who took all three points in the reverse fixture in November, and it was the hosts who took the most of the possession in the early parts of the match.
The first real chance, however, fell to Alex Teniola. Bury had the ball comfortably in the back but a mistake from Josh Curry let Teniola in, however, the shot, and the play afterwards, was marshalled out by the Bury defence.
After 17 minutes, City had a chance again. After soaking up the pressure from Bury's possession-based play, the ball found its way down the left-hand side, and as Samrai Gebrai wandered into the penalty area, the ball was dragged back to the no.11. Gebrai's shot was, unfortunately, dragged wide.
Then, four minutes later, the breakthrough came. Bury had mostly dominated possession, and they were finally rewarded when City's defence were unable to deal with a pass forward. Cemal Ramadan located the free ball and hooked it over James Philp and into the back of the net to give the Blues the lead. The ex-Lilywhite scoring his 23rd goal of the season in his attempts to win the golden boot.
Bury then had more chances to double their lead. The first came after 24 minutes, when a cross from the left found Luke Brown, who shot wide. The second one came just over a minute later when Ethan Mayhew wondered into the 18-yard box and, as the ball came from the left-hand side, proceeded to volley over the crossbar from close range.
Four minutes later, City had the opportunity to level the scores. The Lilywhites were given a free-kick, Gebrai lofted the ball into the penalty area and picked out Jamie Dicks, however, Dicks failed to find the target.
Bury had another chance in the 31st minute, when former City player Mikey Davis produced a lovely cross past the face of the goal. Fortunately for the Lilywhites, no Bury player got near the pass.
Then came the most exciting parts of the match. First Bury's chance in the 38th minute, Davis again making the afternoon very uncomfortable for the City backline. The no.11 running down the left and forcing a save from Philp. City then went on the counter as the ball fell to Gebrai, he then dragged back to Dicks, but the centre midfielder sent his shot over the crossbar.
The end-to-end passage didn't end there either, as Bury themselves went on their own counter attack. Ramadan and Davis combined well to make Philp keep City in the game with another crucial save.
There was just enough time for Gebrai to have another attempt a goal, which was blocked, before the half-time whistle blew, giving Bury the edge into the second half.
Bury had the impetus at the start of the second half, the Blues with a corner three minutes into the second half that nearly snuck in at the far post from a well struck cross.
Only a minute later and Alfie Mason had the ball on the left, and his cross into the box was very nearly put into his on net by Taylor Parr, the former City captain was grateful to see Charlie Beckwith grab the ball under pressure to keep the team's clean sheet hopes intact.
Bury had the next few chances. Firstly, a cross on the right fell to Ramadan, whose attempt at his second goal of the game was dragged wide. And then, secondly, Max Maughn ran down the right and passed the ball to a hopeful teammate, City's backline was just about able to clear the ball off the line. The resulting corner was lobbed towards the back post but no one in a blue shirt got the connection that they wanted.
Philp made another crucial save after 77 minutes, as Mikey Davis continued to haunt his old side with another mazy run, this time the City keeper was a match for it.
City then had a corner after 82 minutes. The scramble that followed after the delivery saw the ball fall to Mason, his shot getting blocked before reaching the target.
With time running out, City started to up the pressure, Mason providing another cross that saw Beckwith flapping at the ball rather unconvincingly. Then Ramiah Mills and Gebrai both linked up to almost force Mikey Davis to head into his own net, his blushes were then spared when Beckwith was judged to have been fouled in the resulting scramble.
Gebrai gave City another chance to equalise with time running out. After running down the left, he found an incoming Teniola who headed over after a promising run.
City kept pushing and, with injury time almost over, Bury were hoping to hold out for a 1-0 win. City had other ideas, winning a corner with just seconds to play. What looked like a poor delivery turned out to be a master-stroke. As the ball was crossed low and hard towards the near post, Beckwith thought he had timed his dive perfectly well, but in doing so, actually sent the ball flying into the roof of the net.
With City scoring at the death for the second successive match, City snatched a point again, stretching their form to just one defeat in 15 games. After their antics on Tuesday night, the character of Jamie Cureton's squad is unlikely to be called into question anytime soon.
Connor Taylor-Creek
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