Late drama at Gigg Lane saw Bury have to overcome visitors Gainsborough Trinity via the penalty shootout after a 3-1 lead turned into a 3-3 draw during second half stoppage time.
Anthony Johnson making good on his promise to field fringe players in the FA Trophy made six changes from the win against Workington. Among the changes was new signing Daniel Adshead who made his debut while Liam Gould and Murat Aydogan from the Under21s made the bench.
Playing in a different shape and with different personnel it took Bury a while to find their feet. Luca Navarro had the best early chance when his shot beat keeper David Robson but was cleared off the line.
While Gainsborough found themselves with the ball quite often they offered little going forward, Mitch Allen only required to make a couple of routine saves.
Bury took the lead as Luca Navarro bounded down the left and sent in a cross to Anthony Dudley to force home the opener. It was a first senior Bury goal for the former Bury youth player.
Dudley nearly had a second as Bailey Sloane’s super forward ball found James Melhado, his cross reached Dudley at full stretch but he could only put it into the side netting.
After the break Bury were lackadaisical and allowed Gainsborough to claim a foothold in the match, a Javelle Clarke shot was blazed over the bar.
Against the run of play Bury claimed a second. Luca Navarro afforded too much time and space cut inside and shot from outside the box to the far post beyond the reach of Robson.
The visitors never stopped looking to get back into the match. Fraser Preston had a shot tipped over by Mitch Allen before a scramble in the Bury box that could have gone anywhere was barely cleared by an under pressure Shakers defence.
Things came to a head when the Holy Blues were awarded a penalty. Mitch Allen got a hand to the spot kick but Lewis Butroid was not to be denied.
The match was on a knife’s edge, Trinity’s Callum Brown saw a shot saved well by Allen while at the other end Rustam Stepans hit the bar with a long range blast.
First team regulars in Owen Robinson and Kai Evans were brought on and Bury found another gear. An Evans free kick spun wide of the far post while Robinson forced a good save from the keeper to force a corner.
In the 88th minute Kai Evans taking a corner kick launched an inswinger that beat Robson and found the far corner of the net. Evans’ eighth goal in the month of September.
With 90 seconds of stoppage time left Bury were 3-1 up and cruising. A defensive mix up allowed Aaron Simpson to claim what appeared to be a consolation.
Gainsborough never gave up and Bury could not keep the ball out of their box. When a free kick was cleared only as far as Ronnie Kokkinos the Gainsborough debutant slammed a shot into the bottom corner to equalise and force the penalty shootout.
As in the match itself Bury had the penalty shootout well in hand but couldn’t finish the tie off. Owen Robinson, Anthony Dudley, Bailey Sloane and George Glendon had all put their efforts away while three of the Gainsborough players had scored theirs, Theo Williams had seen his penalty saved by Allen. It fell to Kai Evans to score the last kick and win the day but Robson saved the centrally placed attempt.
Melhado scored his penalty to extend sudden death into a second round. Mitch Allen saved his second penalty, this time against the scorer of the third goal Kokkinos, allowing Connor Pye with a smoothly taken spot kick to at last put the result to bed 6-5 on penalties.
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