BURY may be down but they won’t go without a fight first said manager Ryan Lowe, after Jay O’Shea’s goal saw them battle to a well-deserved point at promotion-chasing Shrewsbury.

The Shakers, already relegated from League One, grew in confidence throughout as they shook the Shrews – despite falling behind to Abo Eisa’s brilliant solo effort early in the game.

And, although they failed to end their 10-game winless run, Lowe took pride in his team’s performance which secured a second straight point – after they bounced back with similar character against Doncaster last time out.

“To come to Shrewsbury who are having a great season, and take a point off them, as well as three earlier in the season, is a big plus for us,” he said.

“We could possibly have gone on and won it. I’m happy with the point as always but I also think we dominated large parts of the game so I am really pleased.

“You have to give us a lot of credit because the of the way we moved the ball and played throughout the game.”

Bury started brightly as George Miller forced a fifth-minute save from Dean Henderson after winning the ball on the edge of the Shrewsbury penalty area.

But Shrewsbury struck first when Max Lowe released Eisa down the left on 13 minutes, taking the ball from inside his own half and shrugging off Ryan Cooney’s challenge before unleashing a 25-yard strike beyond the dive of Joe Murphy in the Bury goal.

Miller dragged a 28th minute shot wide as the Shakers tried to fashion an equaliser before Murphy beat away a venomous Bryn Morris strike when Shrewsbury went looking for a second.

O’Shea saw his effort easily gathered by Henderson shortly before the break, and Miller failed to get a telling touch on Cooney’s free-kick when well placed to score seven minutes into the second-half.

Bury began to get on top just after the hour, and their efforts paid dividend when his luck changed in the 66th minute.

Making a sharp incision into the Shrewsbury penalty area, O’Shea lashed a shot into the net to punish sleeping Shrewsbury and put the Shakers back on level terms.

Nathan Thomas went close to restoring the home side’s lead when his 83rd minute volley flashed past Murphy’s right-hand post.

But neither side could snatch a winner as Bury curtailed some late Shrewsbury pressure – with some solid individual performances giving travelling Shakers fans plenty of reason for optimism as they headed home still contemplating life in League Two.

“We lacked the bit of quality that has been missing from us so many times this season,” Lowe added.

“We played our way back into the game and scored a great equaliser.

“The goal gave us a big lift and I can’t fault the lads because they’ve put in an enormous effort.

“The Bury fans could see we were giving ourselves a great chance. I know they’d prefer to see us play more attacking football but we grew in confidence and George Miller also had a couple of chances earlier in the game.”