Bury edged back into the top three but were unconvincing as they were held 1-1 at home by Darlington.
Tale of two penalties at Gigg Lane
Bury edged back into the top three but were unconvincing as they were held 1-1 at home by Darlington.
Rock-bottom Darlo opened the scoring against the run of play as Tadhg Purcell converted a 32nd-minute penalty.
Bury's top scorer Ryan Lowe equalised 10 minutes later, also from the penalty spot, but the hosts failed to maintain that momentum and had to settle for a fourth straight draw.
Dominated
Bury dominated the first half with Mike Jones firing wide before Andy Bishop, making his first start since September, had a header cleared off the line by Gary Dempsey.
Yet the visitors took the lead as Ryan Cresswell brought down Gary Smith and Purcell converted his seventh goal in 11 games since his mid-season move from Ireland.
David Buchanan and Bishop were both denied by Shane Redmond yet Bury were fortunate to get a penalty when Stephen Dawson went down in a tangle with Darlo substitute Josh Gray.
Lowe claimed his 14th goal of the season from the spot before blazing over after the break.