Town: Andreas Arestidou, Dean Holden, Graham Coughlan (c), Terry Dunfield (Riza, 64), Kelvin Langmead, David Hibbert (Elder, 73), Paul Murray, Steve Leslie, Shane Cansdell-Sherriff, Waide Fairhurst (Robinson, 73), Kevin McIntyre
Subs: Omer Riza, Jake Robinson, Nathan Elder, Kris Bright, Harry Hooman, David Button, Will Richards
Goal: Coughlan 90
Bury: Wayne Brown, David Buchanan, Ryan Cresswell, Stephen Dawson (c), Brian Barry-Murphy, Danny Racchi (Worrall, 77), Michael Jones, Efetobore Sodje, Andy Morrell (Scott, 85), Tom Newey, Daniel Nardiello
Subs: Paul Scott, Ben Futcher, Richie Baker, David Worrall, Cameron Belford, David Thompson
Goal: Nardiello 28
Attendance: 5,070 (454 away)
Referee: M Haywood
Assistant Referee (yellow): S L Massey
Assistant Referee (plain): P C Wright
Fourth Official: S Ihringova
Martin Wild reports from the Prostar
Graham Coughlan's far post header in the dying seconds of normal time, salvaged a point for Shrewsbury after trailing to an excellent finish from Bury's Danny Nardiello. It was the least they deserved for a fully committed response to having fallen behind in difficult conditions.
There are first starts of the season for returning midfielder Terry Dunfield, and Andreas Arestidou in goal - the latter's a league debut following his midweek heroics at Telford. This means that yesterday's loan capture from Tottenham - David Button - has to be content with a place on the subs bench.
The visitor's got the game under way in squally conditions sporting a rather unusual colour combo of sky blue and chocolate brown halved shirts.
After a fairly non-descript opening - with the worsening weather conditions certainly not aiding the hopes of a classic - it was Bury who came close to an opener midway through the half. A corner kick was headed goalwards by Danny Nardiello but Paul Murray was superbly placed to make a goal-line clearance.
We had to wait a minute or two until either goalkeeper was called upon as Wayne Brown saved comfortably from Dave Hibbert, with the rains continuing to batter the Prostar.
After 28 minutes Bury went ahead with a goal of some quality. Nardiello skipped across the penalty area and fed the ball into Andy Morrell who cushioned it back towards Nardiello as he continued his run into the Town box. He struck the ball first time and it flew past the despairing dive of Arestidou to put Salop behind for the fifth home game in succession.
Brown had to wait until a minute before the break to get his hands warmed again. Dean Holden arrowed in a wicked free-kick from almost 30 yards and Brown's handling of a greasy matchball was impeccable.
Low-key would be the best way to sum-up the first 45 minutes, but it had certainly been illuminated by that superb finish from Nardiello.
Half-Time: 0-1
With the rains showing no signs of abating, Town started the second-half attacking the South Stand and Ryan Cresswell did well to concede a corner when a cross came in from the right. From that corner there were two muted penalty appeals - the first for a tug on Graham Coughlan, and the other for a handball that wasn't exactly of the Thierry Henry variety!
In a much higher tempo, good work by Dunfield set up a shooting opportunity for Waide Fairhurst. He put in a testing low drive which saw Brown go full stretch to save low at his right hand upright.
Coughlan was then penalised for a foul on the near touchline on Danny Racchi, and Efe Sodje missed with a free header for the Shakers when Brian Barry-Murphy's free-kick made it al the way through to the back post.
Shrewsbury were working the ball into wider areas and with the ball holding up on the increasingly saturated surface, the standard of football was much improved. Bury were on the back foot alright but with the cushion of a one goal lead, they had only half an hour in which to hold out and extend their unbeaten run into double figures.
Arestidou kept out a Michael Jones free-kick and then Simpson made a change with Omer Riza coming on for the tiring Dunfield, who'd put in a decent shift on his return to first-team duties.
With just over 20 minutes to go Nardiello fluffed a golden opportunity to double his tally when he headed wide after pulling away from the last Town defender.
Simmo then introduced a new front-pairing with Nathan Elder and Jake Robinson replacing Hibbert and Fairhurst - who'd been very well marshalled by the defensive combo of Sodje and Cresswell.
Coughlan headed a Steve Leslie corner wide as Town continued to toil for the leveller, and then former Town loanee David Worrall was brought on for the remaining quarter of an hour or so.
Elder's physical presence up front was winning a number of free-kicks, but Town's execution in these situations had failed to produce anything of any real note. Bury appeared set for a sixth win of the season away from Gigg Lane to exact some revenge for that home defeat in the play-offs, that robbed them of a place at Wembley.
Arestidou turned Jones's shot around the post as the Lancashire side looked for a killer second and finally, as the final minutes quickly ebbed away, someone turned off the sky sprinklers.
Worrall missed a chance to net on his return to the Prostar and Shrewsbury were able to hold on to the slenderest of hopes.
Those hopes became reality in the 90th minute when Coughlan guided home Riza's cross to bring Simpson's men level, with four minutes of additional time flashed up on the fourth official's board.
Town's persistence and belief had brought about a precious point, against a Bury side who may very well feature in the promotion picture in six month's time.
Full-Time: 1-1
