Cambridge United 2 (Lewis 39, Taylor 85)

Bury 2 (O’Shea 24, Aimson 26)

THERE was no hiding the disappointment for Ryan Lowe as he watched his Bury side throw away a two-goal lead against the 10 men of Cambridge.

The Shakers were forced to settle for a point despite two goals in two first-half minutes from Jay O’Shea and Will Aimson having put them in the driving seat.

Cambridge pulled one back before the break through Paul Lewis, who was sent off after the restart for a second bookable offence. The 10 men then rallied late on, equalising through a Greg Taylor thunderbolt.

And Lowe admits his team were their own worst enemy as they failed to put away a game they had controlled for large periods.

He said: “I’m frustrated. Credit to Cambridge, who had a man sent off but gave everything, and probably deserved the late goal and the point.

“We were a little bit sloppy at times, but in the first 30 minutes there was only one team in it. But credit where it’s due, they got in our faces and wouldn’t lie down. The disappointing thing is we didn’t put them to bed with the chances we created, and the goal they scored at the end was preventable from our point of view.

“We worked hard for our goals, but I sometimes feel the opposition don’t have to work hard to score against us.”

Unsurprisingly, Lowe named an unchanged team following last week’s 4-0 demolition of Stevenage, and keeper Joe Murphy had to be on his mettle in the 20th minute to make a brilliant save from a Lewis header.

Four minutes later Bury had the lead, after an enterprising run from Danny Mayor saw the winger tee up O’Shea, who found the net from 18 yards with a shot that took a slight deflection on its way past David Forde.

Bury doubled their advantage two minutes later through Aimson, who found space to meet O’Shea’s free kick and head over Forde.

At that point the visitors appeared to be in charge, but Cambridge grabbed a lifeline six minutes before half time. Murphy made another great save from Jabo Ibehre’s powerful effort, but Lewis poked home the rebound.

Things turned sour for Lewis 10 minutes after the break. Already on a booking for a lunging first-half tackle, he led with an arm in an aerial challenge with Chris Stokes and was shown a second yellow card by referee Chris Sarginson.

The 10 men came close to an equaliser through George Maris, who saw his curling effort headed off the line by Kyle McFadzean, before Nicky Maynard hit the post from close range for Bury.

And the Shakers were made to pay for that miss when they failed to clear a cross from substitute Manny Osadebe, and Taylor hammered home a powerful effort from 20 yards.

Lowe added: “There were some tough tackles out there, but that’s part and parcel of the game, and more importantly for us I don’t think we played as well as we can. We created chances but we’ve got to put teams like that away.”

Cambridge United (4-3-3): Forde, Davies (Dunk 88), Taylor, Taft, Carroll, Deegan, Lewis, Maris (Osadebe 71), Lambe (Amoo 71), Brown, Ibehre

Subs not used: Mitov, O’Neil, Azeez, John

Bury (4-4-2): Murphy 8, Aimson 7, Thompson 6, Stokes 6, McFadzean 8, N Adams 7, Styles 5 (O’Connell 61, 5), O’Shea 8, Mayor 8, Maynard 5 (Telford 80, 5), Moore 6

Subs not used: Hudson, Miller, Dagnall, J Adams, Danns

Referee: Chris Sarginson

Attendance: 3,846