SHAKERS 1, EXETER 0: NICKY Adams booked a third round date for Bury at Norwich City - and provided them with a shred of vindication after last season's FA Cup palaver.
Ironically, the Shakers were scheduled to be playing the Canaries' derby rivals, Ipswich, before being dumped out of last season's competition for fielding an ineligible player.
And thanks to the in-form winger's late winner against a spirited Exeter side, the club can now look forward to what should be a reasonable pay-day in East Anglia.
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"After what went on last season, it was important that we made amends," Casper said after a tight game at Gigg Lane.
"The matter has been and gone now, so we want to leave it in the past and look forward to the third round.
"But most importantly, I'm happy for the fans because they lost out on their big day last season."
For so long, it seemed a distinctly unappetising midweek replay in the South-west was on the cards.
The visitors had only two worrying moments in the first 45 minutes, and one of those was of their own making.
Keeper, Paul Jones got his angles wrong just two minutes in to handle the ball outside his area, and though the Gigg Lane crowd were baying for blood, referee Dave Foster saw sense to hand him only a yellow card.
The only other highlight of a turgid first half was a clever move down the left involving Colin Woodthorpe and Andy Bishop - the latter rolling an inviting ball across the area to David Buchanan, whose shot was well saved by Jones.
Gigg Lane echoed with jeers as Foster drew the first half to a close, but Newcastle official Foster would soon become the villain of the piece.
He first upset the home support by ruling out a clear trip on Andy Mangan from Dan Seabourne before riling the 350 away supporters for not punishing a string of scrappy fouls around the penalty area at the other end.
Thankfully, some of the Shakers' players got the message and stepped forward to take the spotlight.
Substitute, Liam Hughes produced another promising cameo, hitting the side-netting within five minutes of his arrival. Bishop and Buchanan then combined well again to set up Nicky Adams, but Jones was again up to the challenge, blocking the Bolton-born winger's shot at his near post.
It was one-way traffic by the time the Grecians' resolve was finally broken. Woodthorpe's low shot was saved by Jones, but the rebound was snapped up in a heartbeat by Adams - taking his season tally to eight with a close-range tap in.
That opened the game up to a host of late chances. Bishop could, and should, have scored a couple, chiefly a far-post header straight into Jones's hands and the two excellent solo runs which saw him bare down on the Exeter keeper.
Amidst it all, though, Exeter boss Paul Tisdale tried a triple substitution to spark his team into a revival, and it nearly worked. Jim Provett produced a moment of class to keep out Richard Logan's point blank header before a more agile stop under his own crossbar to deny Jamie Mackie in the last minute.
On the whistle, Exeter's players sunk to their knees knowing a repeat of their FA Cup meeting with Manchester United of a few years ago would not be repeated. Bury were glad they hadn't had to rack up the mileage in the replay and then drew a tie at Carrow Road.
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