YORK fans must have thought Christmas had come early as Bury blew a two-goal lead to gift the relegation strugglers a point.

Shakers manager David Flitcroft found it difficult to muster any festive cheer after watching his side extend their winless streak to nine games.

The celebrations started early after Andrew Tutte and Danny Nardiello plundered goals inside five second-half minutes.

But Jake Hyde and Luke Summerfield proved party poopers as the visitors came roaring back to level.

“We have got to see the game out,” said Flitcroft, with more than a little hint of bah humbug. “At 2-0 up, you have got to get through the next 10 minutes.

“But the goal gives them real hope. At 2-1 it becomes uncomfortable, which it didn’t need to be.

“If not from a technical aspect then certainly from an emotional aspect we have gifted them two points today.”

Despite his disappointment, Flitcroft had plenty of positive aspects of his side’s performance to ponder.

Ryan Lowe epitomised Bury’s energetic opening, the veteran striker narrowly missing the target with an early glancing header and testing York stopper Alex Cisak with another.

But just as strong as the home side looked going forward they were brittle at the back.

Michael Coulson missed a glorious chance to put Wes Fletcher in on goal, just overcooking his pass when the York striker was in acres of space.

The visitors’ front four of Fletcher, Coulson, Hyde and Diego De Girolamo looked threatening, keeping Bury’s back three of Nathan Cameron, Pablo Mills and Adam El-Abd on their toes.

Hyde should have done better when Shakers stopper Shwan Jalal passed the ball straight to him on 15 minutes, but was unable to take advantage of the unexpected opportunity.

Bury were the aggressors for the most part, though, with Tutte firing wide after good interplay between Lowe and Craig Jones.

Nicky Adams was also creating havoc with his crosses, with one delivery brushing the head of Cameron from just a couple of yards out, while Lowe and Nardiello were a constant threat.

But it was the visitors who wasted the best opportunity of the first half as De Girolamo blazed over a Coulson centre that broke to him unmarked six yards out.

If that let-off was fortunate, lady luck was certainly smiling on the Shakers when Tutte burst forward confidently on 57 minutes to unleash a powerful strike that looped in off former Bury defender Stephane Zubar.

The sight of the ball rippling the back of the net sparked wild scenes as the young midfielder ran to the bench to be engulfed by the entire Bury squad.

That feeling of giddy relief was still present five minutes later when Chris Hussey – introduced at half time for the injured Mills – placed a superb free-kick on to the head of Nardiello, who buried his ninth goal of the season from six yards out.

“Two goals is a fantastic reward at home, and that’s pleased me because we have not been as menacing or looked like scoring of late,” said Flitcroft.

“We have improved that side of it. At times it was back to something that resembles what we are about, but our Achilles heel over the past month has come back to haunt us again.”

It is true that York were given plenty of help to prise a draw out of the jaws of victory.

Fletcher had already missed a decent opportunity before Hussey gifted the ball to Coulson, who crossed on to the head of the unmarked Hyde to give York a way back into the game in the 67th-minute.

Three goals in 10 minutes almost became four in 12 as Summerfield flashed a header across goal, while a hurried clearance by Jalal gifted Russell Penn the chance to shoot and his effort was deflected just wide of the target.

York finally levelled on 78 minutes when Summerfield’s free kick flew past the despairing dive of Jalal, whose positioning for the goal was criticised by his manager.

Both sides then had chances to win it in the closing stages.

Nardiello could not quite get his head over an Adams cross while Cameron produced a telling block at both ends, first stopping a De Girolamo shot before getting in the way of a goal-bound Danny Rose effort.

Despite the disappointment, Flitcroft was still philosophical about the point, which kept his side ninth in the table and closed the gap to the play-off places to just three points.

“Tuttey’s performance deserved to be on the winning side - he drove the team on at times,” said the Bury boss.

“And I thought Lowey and Nards were good up front. Technically, they held the ball up miles better today.

“So there were some real positive signs.

“But it is an individual thing, it is a character thing. You have got to dig in at the final moment. If there is any space on a football pitch then people have got an opportunity to score a goal and we gave them too much space.”

BURY: Jalal 5; El-Abd 6, Mills 6 (Hussey 7 46), Cameron 6; Jones 5, Etuhu 6, Tutte 8, Mayor 6 (Hope 6 72); Adams 8; Lowe 7 (Rose 6 84), Nardiello 7.

Not used: Lainton, McNulty, Soares, White.

YORK: Cisak; Halliday, Lowe, Zubar, Ilesanmi; Summerfield, Penn; Hyde, De Girolamo, Coulson; Fletcher.

Not used: Mooney, McCoy, McCombe, Carson, Montrose, Meikle, Morris.

Goals: Bury 2 (Tutte 57, Nardiello 62) York 2 (Hyde 67, Summerfield 78).

Yellow cards: Bury - Mills 26, Cameron 43. York - Ilesanmi 33, Summerfield 83, Halliday 89. 

Referee: Mark Haywood.

Attendance: 3,313 (557 visiting).

Star man: Andrew Tutte – The former Rochdale midfielder lost his way a little after a bright start to the season but has put in a string of promising performances over the past few weeks. He twice hit the woodwork in Bury’s 2-1 defeat at Oxford the previous weekend but finally got the luck his confident displays have deserved to bag his second goal of the season. The deflection off former Shaker Stephane Zubar was decisive, but the ball was still travelling as it hit the back of the net. It was fantastic to see his diminutive figure disappear under a pile of Bury bodies as the entire squad celebrated as one, just a shame that his goal did not help snare a festive three points.