ANDY Bishop's 16th goal of the season kept Bury's promotion dream on track against ten-man Lincoln.

The Bury hitman equalised Ben Wright's opener in the 82nd minute, after the home side had played more than half the match a player short.

Striker Anthony Elding was given his marching orders just before the interval for a crude elbow on Shakers defender Ryan Cresswell.

Bishop's goal was the least Bury deserved for their possession in the second half, and the result leaves them fourth in League Two.

“In the end, I was happy with that,” said manager Alan Knill. “I wasn't happy with the way we conceded, but I did think we weren't going to score, and when we did it was a good goal.

“It's another point towards our target. The easy thing is to panic when you go a goal down, but we didn't and moved the ball around well.

“What I will say is that we worked hard to get the ball into some good areas, and then when the ball could have gone in, we took one touch too many. People just have to take hold of it and shoot.”

Knill was spot-on in his assessment, with Bury guilty of spurning some glorious openings by not crossing or shooting.

However, their fighting spirit pulled them through in a game that took 20 minutes to spring into life.

When it did, Wright fired wide for the Imps before Daniel N'Guessan tested Wayne Brown with a shot from outside the area.

Michale Jones had a shot tipped wide at the other end, before Lincoln went into the lead on the half-hour mark.

It was terrible defending on Bury's part as Michael O'Connor swung in a cross to the far post, which found Aaron Brown and the unmarked Lincoln forward rolled the ball to Wright for the striker to slot home from just six yards.

The visitors defence was all at sea as they fruitlessly appealed for offside.

Bury tried to pull themselves from the canvas, and Bishop and Buchanan tried their luck before Elding's moment of madness.

The former Stockport ace was not enjoying his physical battle with the towering Cresswell and, when the two came tangled again, he aimed a blow at the Bury player.

Elding was shown red, and there followed a few minutes of mayhem as both sets of players and benches engaged in a spot of handbags on the touchline.

That livened up the contest, and Bury dominated possession in the second half without creating any clear openings.

In fact, it was Peter Jackson's side who should have scored when a Bury attack broke down and the Imps broke on the counter. Cresswell – public enemy number one to the majority of the crowd - mis-timed a tackle and Wright was sent scampering clear.

Thankfully for the young central defender, Wright shot tamely wide when it was easier to score.

Bury were starting to make something of their man advantage and Jones rained in a couple of shots before Bishop saved his side's blushes.

Elliott Bennett slid a glorious ball through for the former York man, and he chipped the onrushing keeper with real composure to haul his side back into the game.

Knill's men had the bit between their teeth and Brian Barry-Murphy saw a free-kick expertly tipped wide in the dying stages, but Bury could not force a winner and must now look ahead to a clash with relegation-threatened Chester on Saturday.

LINCOLN: Burch 6, Green 7, Kovacs 7, Sinclair 7, Beevers 6, Kerr 6, O'Connor 6, Brown 7, N'Guessan 7, Elding 5,Wright 6 (Patulea 6, 82). Subs not used: Oakes, Horsfield, Clarke, Duffy.

BURY: Brown 6, Haslam 6 (Racchi 7, 65), Cresswell 7, Sodje 7, Buchanan 7, Bennett 7, Barry-Murphy 8, Dawson 8, Jones 7, Morrell 6 (Hurst 73), Bishop 7. Subs not used: Futcher, Baker, Rouse.

Attendance: 3,642 (409 Bury fans)

Referee: Chris Sarginson (Staffs)