WILCOX IS A RECORD BREAKER!
THE team from Guinness may well be paying a trip to Scunthorpe in the week to investigate whether manager Russ Wilcox broke the world record with his 26th game unbeaten since taking charge.
Wilcox’s run without defeats since taking charge beats the 25 matches Andre Villas-Boas went without losing at the helm of Portuguese giants Porto.
Bury, who fell behind twice despite having looked the most threatening going forward, snatched a point five minutes into stoppage time, when substitute Danny Rose caught Iron goalkeeper Sam Slocombe flat-footed with a curling shot from the edge of the penalty area.
It made for muted celebrations for Scunthorpe, for whom the point was enough to take them top of the table. But record breaker Wilcox preferred to focus on the positives.
“We wanted three points but we couldn’t quite manage it,” he said.
“It’s a bit like déjà vu from Boxing Day but credit to Bury, they kept going until the death. I think over the 90 minutes we deserved to win the game, but we lost.
“Other results went our way, we’ve chalked another game off and we’re another step closer to promotion.
“I’m proud of the record and I am pleased for the group. It is great for the group to have that record. I am fortunate to have a fantastic group to work with and hopefully we can manage that with promotion and I am confident we can.”
After a tepid first-half, in which neither side were able to produce an end product to some enterprising spells of possession, Scunthorpe went ahead in the 62nd minute, when Paddy Madden stuck out a leg to divert Hakeeb Adelakun’s shot from outside the box inside the near post.
The lead lasted just five minutes, but after Tom Soares had headed the Shakers level from Andrew Tutte’s free-kick, the hosts regained the initiative, after Danny Mayor had scythed down Terry Hawkridge in the penalty area. Paul Hayes’ 76th minute spot kick was blocked away by the imposing figure of veteran keeper Brian Jensen, the goalie they nickname ‘the Beast’. But Hayes maintained his focus to finish from the rebound.
When Slocombe displayed his ability and plucked a shot from Shakers substitute Andy Procter out of the bottom corner just minutes after the midfielder had entered the field, it looked like Scunthorpe had escaped with all three points before Rose struck.
Bury boss David Flitcroft said:“The test for me all this week has been about how far we’ve come and where we’re at in terms of the journey.
“There’s only Chesterfield that have been able to beat us and that’s important. I believe we deserved to win this match with chances created and our dominance. “The lads put an incredible shift in and I was delighted with
a lot of aspects of our play.”