Bury 0, Crystal Palace 0 A FEW more performances like this and the relegation rainclouds hovering over Gigg Lane should start to clear. While a home point against a crisis-torn Palace side was never going to be high on chairman Terry Robinson's gift list on his birthday, no-one could deny the Shakers fully deserved a first win in 12 matches, especially in a first half that harkened back to the heady early season days that promised so much.

Neil Warnock's men could, and should, have been three or four goals up as they took the game to their South London opponents but the lack of firepower that has haunted them all season continued and denied them their full reward. The closest the Shakers came to breaking the deadlock came after 15 minutes when the impressive Chris Billy crashed a vicious 25-yarder against Kevin Miller's left hand post.

"If you're top of the league they go in," said Warnock.

"But you have to make your own luck. The pleasing thing was that there were 14 lads out there committed to the cause.

"It's the teams with spirit that will survive the drop and now we've got to show that week in week out. You wouldn't have thought we hadn't won for 12 games on that performance."

It was a fair appraisal from the Bury boss as the point lifted his side out of the bottom three and gave hope of a revival after a run of four successive defeats. Keeper Dean Kiely won't have had many quieter afternoons. He only had one save to make, superly turning over a swerving drive from David Tuttle midway through the first period. But that effort apart it was Bury who held the whip hand and at the break they must have been wondering just what they had to do to score.

Laurent D'Jaffo saw a powerful goalbound shot blocked by the arm of Craig Moore and on-loan Paul Serrant, whose quality balls into the box were a constant menace for the Eagles, brought the best out of Miller with a stinging drive that he collected at the second attempt.

Serrant turned provider seven minutes before the interval when another pinpoint cross found the head of D'Jaffo but the umarked Frenchman could only tamely direct his header straight at Miller. While the second half wasn't as productive from Bury's point of view Palace never looked likely to breach a home defence that looked a lot more solid than it had of late.

Ever-dependable Chris Lucketti and Chris Swailes partnered born-again Steve Redmond in the back line and the trio never gave former Manchester City misfit Lee Bradbury a sniff of a chance throughout the 90 minutes.

"I think Steve Coppell will have been pleased to come away with a point," added Warnock.

"It's a big lift for everyone to get off the 31 point mark. Our target now is to make sure there are three teams below us at the end of the season." Kiely 7, West 7, Serrant 8, Daws 8, Lucketti 7, Redmond 7, Swailes 7, Hall 7, D'Jaffo 7, BILLY 9, Preece 7. Subs: Woodward (for West 64 mins) 7, Littlejohn (for Preece 79 mins), Jemson (for D'Jaffo 89 mins)

Attendance: 4,334

Referee: Mr G. Frankland (Middlesbrough)

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