IT wasn’t quite “rope a dope”, but Kevin Blackwell admitted putting the shackles on his Bury players before allowing them to open up late in the game to claim a priceless 2-2 draw at Brentford.

After withstanding waves of pressure in the opening half, Bury suddenly burst into life after Harry Forrester opened the scoring for Uwe Rosler’s League One promotion chasers seven minutes after the break.

Stung into action, Tom Soares opened his Bury account with a superb breakaway effort and Nicky Ajose bagged his second goal in as many matches, either side of a Marcello Trotta counter-punch for Brentford.

And while the Shakers weren’t able to completely floor the Bees, Blackwell was left claiming the tactical spoils after a double comeback that would have made Muhammad Ali proud.

“We had to pay respect to Brentford,” said Blackwell.

“If I set up my team to go toe to toe with them on their home patch, I think we could have come unstuck.

“But we stayed in the game and were able to go at them in the end. “So, overall, I think tactically we got it about right.”

It didn’t look that way in the first half after Bury keeper Trevor Carson, playing with a fractured hand, was forced into a last ditch block to deny Tom Adeyemi in the opening five minutes.

Brentford went on to create a host of decent chances as Bury continually gave possession away on a dry bobbly pitch.

Adam Forshaw, Shaleum Logan and Jonathan Douglas all went close, while Trotta certainly should have done better after being presented with a free shot on the penalty spot.

So it was no real shock when Forrester finally put Bury out of their misery early in the second half, expertly heading Logan’s deep centre back across goal.

The question then was how many Brentford would score, yet Blackwell’s side had other ideas.

Bees keeper Simon Moore had to dive full stretch to keep out Steven Schumacher’s 30-yard free-kick before Soares made the most of a searching long ball by Carl Regan.

The midfielder, who signed a three-month contract on Friday, turned on the afterburners to speed away from his marker and plant the bouncing ball into the top corner on 65 minutes.

Brentford restored their lead within 90 seconds of the restart, Trotta slotting home the rebound after Carson could only palm away an Adeyemi shot.

Yet the late introduction of David Worrall, declared fit after a thigh strain, spurred Bury to come back again, this time Soares turning provider with a whipped cross from the left that Ajose glanced past Moore with 14 minutes remaining.

They hung on for a great point, but, with relegation rivals Scunthorpe and Colchester both winning, the Shakers ended the day five points from safety.