Chester City 1 Bury 1

UNIVERSITY graduate Rob Matthews passed his most unusual test with flying colours.

And Shakers boss Stan Ternent is convinced his new £100,000 striker is more than equipped to handle the searching examination ahead. Matthews became an instant hero when he stepped off the bench into a valiant 10-man team and coolly provided the 67th minute reward Bury's brave, battling second half show richly deserved.

Latching on to David Pugh's defence-splitting through ball, Matthews launched into a blistering run to leave the Chester defence in his slipstream before calmly finishing with the perfect lob over the advancing Billy Stewart.

"It was strange coming on into a 10-man team in my debut," he reflected.

"But I'll certainly settle for a goal in my first 45 minutes for the club. It was a good start and has got to be good for my confidence.

"We played very well without only 10 men. They had a lot of possession but didn't create too much and we had the best chances in the second half."

The 25-year-old showed enough skill, pace and determination to suggest Bury could have a real gem on their hands. And Ternent insists we've seen nothing yet.

"He gives us pace, has a good touch and scores goals. He made a marvellous start but he's better than that." Matthews almost capped a dream debut with the winner when he turned two defenders only to fire a crisp, angled drive too close to Stewart.

The new boy naturally took the glory - but it was earned by a defiant and ambitious performance which rocked high-flying Chester onto the back foot and fully underlined Bury's promotion credentials.

But it needed the 43rd minute sending off of Lenny Johnrose - for one unbelieveable and one debateable yellow card - to whip the Shakers into action.

They trailed to a 22nd minute Cyril Regis glancing header from Neil Fisher's inch-perfect free kick and had goalkeeper Lee Bracey to thank for keeping them in the game before the big fightback.

A late replacement for Gary Kelly - missing due to family illness - Bracey once again let nobody down with one of his best performances in a Bury shirt, making three crucial stops including a blistering reflex save to parry Kevin Noteman's rocket volley around the post. Tony Rigby was denied by an equally sharp one-handed save by Stewart and Johnrose and Stant both had gilt-edged chances to put Bury on level terms during an under par first half performance. As the pendulum swung the Shakers' way after the break they had chances to clinch victory with Rigby's deflected 25-yard shot whistling inches wide and Pugh almost stealing the points when he rose above Stewart only to direct his header into the side netting. "We'd have settled for a point at half time," said Pugh. "But we could have won it in the end. We defended well in a great second half performance after a poor first half when we gave too many free kicks away." BURY FORMGUIDE

BRACEY 9, West 8, Hughes 7, Lucketti 8, Jackson 8, Rigby 7, Daws 7, Johnrose 6, Pugh 7, Stant 7, Johnson 6. Subs: Matthews 8 (for Johnson h/t), Reid (for Stant 75 mins) and Matthewson. Att: 3283

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