Micky Mellon thinks Town should have won

Town are now eight points clear of the League One drop zone after stretching their unbeaten run to eight league games.

It handed boss Mellon a belated birthday present with their second successive 2-2 draw.

Kaikai's brilliant goals put Town ahead on 16 and 33 minutes only for Tom Soares (30) to head Bury level, then Peter Clarke (66) rescued the Shakers a deserved point.

Mellon, who was 44 yesterday, will have to wait for his 50th win in charge but it looked like coming in a dominant first-half, only for Bury to hit back strongly after the break.

The point made it seven unbeaten away, and one defeat in 12 on their travels.

Kaikai's first senior brace made it four in three games and nine for the season for the on-loan Crystal Palace youngster - one off his target with nine matches left.

And Mellon was full of praise for the 20-year-old, saying: "He's incredible - both finishes were terrific. It was just a pity he couldn't get that hat-trick, but that would be me being greedy.

"It was brilliant to see that kind of football being played out in front of you - that's what people come to see when they come to the stadium.

"He practises very hard to do that - it's not as if he just woke up one day and did that - but that's to our benefit because he was able to score two goals like that."

Mellon was also delighted with Town's first-half display, adding: "I thought we were excellent in the first half, I really did.

"We played some great football and we could have had a couple more goals which would have put us out of sight.

"But I expected Bury to come back in the second-half, they haven't got the fifth-best home record in the league for nothing.

"Because they were 2-1 down, they were able to play a bit of roll-of-the-dice football where they could leave out their wide players and test their luck.

"But on those occasions what we've got to be able to do is be better on the counter attack, because there were five or times when we broke on them and we should have punished them."

Both Bury goals came via corners and Mellon was disappointed to concede but acknowledged the quality of Bury's deliveries.

The Town boss said: "I couldn't fault the battling they showed because some of the set-plays Bury put in were as good as I've seen.

"We had to deal with them and we did. We were disappointed to lose goals from set-pieces.

"We spoke about it beforehand and we pretty much knew where they were going to go and where they were going to hit.

"But, sometimes, when the ball comes in like that, it's difficult to defend.

"We were disappointed to have scored two goals away from home and not won but we have to respect a point on the road at a tough place like Bury."

In the second-half, goalkeeper Mark Halstead made fine saves to deny Danny Mayor and Chris Hussey.

Abu Ogogo also bravely headed Tom Soares' shot off the line, while Kyle Vassell twice should have done better with shots and Junior Brown curled a free kick narrowly over.

Mellon admitted the game could have gone either way at 2-2, adding: "They were leaving it two against two on the halfway line.

"If we caught them on the break, we could have got the winner, but they were pushing on for the winner, so both teams wanted to win it."