Bury continue revival with Charlton triumph
Ryan Lowe scored a first-half winner as Bury's survival hopes received another major boost with a 1-0 victory at Charlton.
The victory was Bury's third in their last four games and saw them put further daylight between themselves and the League One drop zone.
The Addicks thought they had grabbed a seventh-minute lead, only for Patrick Bauer to see his strike cancelled out for a foul on Leon Barnett.
Stephy Mavididi flashed a low drive just wide as the hosts continued to press, but it was Bury who broke the deadlock in the 21st minute after Charlton failed three times to clear their lines before Lowe converted from 10 yards.
Lee Novak came agonisingly close to restoring parity with a header which cannoned back off the crossbar and the striker was denied again moments later by the quick-thinking of Joe Murphy.
The Shakers goalkeeper thwarted Novak once more on the hour with another fine stop, this time pushing behind a near-post header .
Barnett cleared the danger from Mavididi's deflected shot, while Charlton keeper Declan Rudd had to be alert to push behind Hallam Hope's volley at the other end.
An unmarked Novak really should have done much better with his header after getting on the end of an inviting Ricky Holmes cross as Charlton continued to push for an equaliser.
Bury were a threat going forward as well, though, and Greg Leigh produced a decent save from Rudd before Jacob Mellis blazed over from the rebound.
Tony Watt's 87th-minute curler tested Murphy but Charlton could not find an equaliser and Bury almost added a second deep into stoppage time when George Miller's shot was somehow kept out by Rudd.
Source: PA
