There were no goals but enough chances for either side to have taken all three points from a lively game with some nice passing moves from both teams.

It was a much improved display by Morecambe after what their manager described as a 'very poor' performance at Cheltenham.

But they started sluggishly with skipper Jim Bentley's shocking back pass giving Ryan Lowe a free run on goal but the striker's effort was well saved by Barry Roche.

The Shrimps then settled into the game with Wayne Brown getting down sharply to block Garry Hunter's right wing cross and Mark Duffy's long range effort.

He was forced to make the best save of the half when on 42 minutes Paul Mullin latched on to a loose ball in the box and forced the Bury keeper into a neat block low to his left. 

Both teams had chances to win the game in the second period with Mark Duffy missing the target from close range on 82 minutes and Stephen Dawson blasting an effort over when he should have scored on 87 minutes.

Shrimps boss Sammy McIlroy made three changes to the side to face Bury.

Stewart Drummond was ruled out with a back injury but skipper Jim Bentley returned to the side  in place of Dave Artell who dropped to the bench. Laurence Wilson reverted to left back as Mark Duffy returned to the starting line up in midfield.

Bury: Brown; Scott, Futcher, Cresswell, Newey; Hewson, Dawson, Barry-Murphy, Jones; Lowe, Morrell. Subs: Buchanan, Baker, Bishop, Racchi, Belford, Elliott.

Morecambe: Roche; Parrish, Bentley, Haining, Wilson; Hunter, Stanley, Panther, Duffy; Mullin, Jevons. Subs: Davies, Moss, Adams, Artell, Twiss, Curtis, McLachlan.

Ref S Attwell.