West Brom 1, Bury 0

A SUSPECT package in a nearby pub held up kick-off of this game by 15 minutes, but it's a time-bomb of a different kind that's ticking under the Shakers after this depressing result.

And to add insult to injury for Shakers fans it was former Bolton Wanderers favourite Fabian DeFreitas who put the skids under the club's First Division survival bid with a goal 10 minutes from time.

The big Dutchman, who had only been on the field six minutes, fired home a 20-yard effort past a helpless Dean Kiely after the Shakers keeper had done well to punch out a powerful strike from another Baggies substitute James Quinn.

It was a real choker for the men from Gigg Lane who had done more than enough to earn a vital point that would have put them in the box seat going into next Sunday's final game of the campaign against Port Vale.

Without suspended influential skipper Chris Lucketti at the heart of the defence central defenders Andy Woodward and Chris Swailes coped manfully with the threat of the country's leading goalscorer Lee Hughes and the abrasive Micky Evans.

The closest the 32-goal marksman - who has only scored two goals fewer than the shot-shy Shakers have all season - came to adding to that tally was in the 65th minute when he headed former Manchester City full-back Jason Van Blerk's teasing cross against a post.

That chance apart it looked all the world to be the Shakers' 11th goalless draw of the campaign until DeFreitas struck. Neil Warnock introduced out-of-favour striker Adrian Littlejohn into the starting line-up for the first time in weeks and his pace down the left was a constant menace to the Baggies.

In a typical raid, after 16 minutes, the former Oldham Athletic man left Albion full-back Andy McDermott and raced to the by-line before cutting a fine ball back for acting skipper Nick Daws but the midfielder's first time effort flew across the face of goal.

The Shakers' best chance of the first period came six minutes from the break when Albion keeper Phil Whitehead could only get a hand to a powerful effort from loan star Carl Serrant but frustratingly the ball evaded both Laurent D'Jaffo and Andy Preece and was cleared to safety.

The home side, without a win in their previous nine matches, never seriously threatened the Bury goal in the first 45 minutes although another former Dutch Trotter Richard Sneekes tested Kiely with a deflected drive in the third minute but the Shakers custodian was equal to it.

They upped the tempo in the second half with the pony-tailed Sneekes increasingly influential but at the death it was all one-way traffic as the Shakers piled on the pressure in an attempt to grab a vital leveller.

Littlejohn flashed a tempting ball across the face of goal but neither the incoming D'Jaffo or Dean West could apply the slightest of touches needed to convert and Swailes could only direct a header into the side netting from a Serrant corner.

After the game Shakers boss Warnock was left fuming over referee Bill Burns' decision not to award his side an injury time penalty after Daryl Burgess appeared to trip Darren Bullock in the box. "That just about sums up our season," he declared.

"It's just one of many vital decisions that have gone against us all year, I don't know why it is, perhaps it's because we are a small club!

"It's soul-destroying, but I can't fault the lads for effort, our big problem is the goals scored column and that's been the problem all season.

"It's out of our hands now, but we are not going to end the season without a fight."

And refreshingly there were kind words from Albion boss Denis Smith who, unlike a lot of managers in the First Division, had nothing but praise for Warnock's battlers.

"Bury battle and have a style of play that is hard to counter but they play more than people give them credit for," he said.

"Teams get pigeon-holed and labelled by people in the game and it's unfair.

"Bury are a small club who have done extremely well to get where they are and they deserve credit for doing the job right."

Everyone connected with the club will be hoping the job has been done right at 3.15pm on Sunday!

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