AN under-strength Bury showed great spirit to come from behind to earn a valuable point at promotion chasers MK Dons.

Captain Steven Schumacher bagged his eighth of the season with a crisply taken right-footed volley from the edge of the box in the 66th minute.

That cancelled out a curling strike from Dons winger Dean Bowditch after 15 minutes that Bury keeper Trevor Carson should have done better with.

Bury manager Kevin Blackwell could only name four players on the bench, but his men put in a disciplined display to keep the MK Dons opportunities down to a minimum.

Both sides, however, had chances to win it.

Izale McLeod – making his second debut for MK Dons - hit the post for the home side near the end of the first half and mis-kicked with the Bury goal at his mercy shortly after the Shakers’ equaliser.

While Lenell John-Lewis had an effort cleared off the line for Bury in the opening period and should have scored an unlikely winner when put through by Tom Soares with 20 minutes remaining.

But the draw was enough to move Bury up a place to third-bottom in League One, three points behind Scunthorpe in 20th, who beat Colchester to leapfrog them and move out of the relegation places.