Charlton Athletic 0, Bury 0 ANOTHER boring goalless draw? Don't you believe it.

This was one of Bury's most encouraging performances in weeks and earned them a precious point in their battle for First Division survival.

Few teams have outplayed Charlton in their own back yard this season but, for patches, that is exactly what the Shakers did.

Manager Stan Ternent was more than happy to head back up the M1 with a point in the bag, describing his players as 'excellent.'

"Our confidence has taken a bit of a buffeting in recent weeks, so this gives everyone a lift. I am delighted," he said.

"We were excellent out there. It was a performance of character and resilience. There weren't many chances in the game, but I thought we had the best of them.

"We have to build on this result now." Charlton, second from top of the league, were widely expected to make easy meat of Bury, second bottom.

They were foiled, however, by a solid back four, led by Lucketti and Butler, which defended everything thrown at it and gave Dean Kiely a relatively untroubled day in goal.

On-loan Bolton back Bryan Small was thrust straight into the starting line-up by Ternent and showed what an important member of the squad he will be - if only for the next month.

He kept a close eye on the tricky Shaun Newton, never giving him an inch in the whole 90 minutes. And it was another significant day for two other Bury players.

Paul Dalglish completed his first full league game with an outstanding display, while marksman Rob Matthews made his comeback from a 10-month injury lay-off by joining the action from the bench with 20 minutes to go.

He slotted back into place with ease and would surely have challenged Charlton 'keeper Andy Petterson had he not been caught inches offside shortly after his introduction.

Charlton had the best of the first half, hitting the target on three occasions to Bury's one. The biggest threat to Kiely's goal came within the first 60 seconds when Mark Kinsella's shot deflected off Butler towards the near post.

Mark Bright then missed two golden chances with his head, completely misdirecting both efforts.

By this time, only 16 minutes had gone and Bury had already been forced to make a change after Peter Swan limped off with a thigh strain.

His replacement, Adrian Randall, lasted only 40 minutes before he was replaced due to a niggling achilles.

The home side had further opportunities to register an opener before Bury got anywhere near.

Tony Battersby came close in the 24th minute, but found the angle too tight and his shot flew across the face of goal.

Ten minutes later, Butler, who is still at the top of Charlton's shopping list, had the chance to add to his market value but failed to connect properly with Lucketti's cross.

Andy Woodward and Lucketti were on their mettle at the other end in the closing minutes to ensure it stayed goalless.

There were even fewer opportunities in the second half.

Charlton's best fell to Newton, but his powerful 55th minute shot went inches over the bar.

For Bury, a dangerous-looking Dalglish cross would surely have been fired home by Battersby had Steve Brown not desperately cleared it for a corner.

And with 14 minutes to go, Matthews was frustrated to see his cross into the six-yard box go wasted when nobody was on hand to connect.

A frantic injury-time, played mostly in the Bury box, still failed to produce a winner, which meant a repeat of the scoreline at Gigg Lane back in August.

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