by Luke Cawdell

Gillingham 0 Bury 0

Gillingham's automatic promotion hopes came to an end during a frustrating afternoon at Priestfield.

A goalless draw against Bury means the Gills are unable to make up the gap between themselves and the third and final automatic promotion spot.

The Gills now face Rochdale away next weekend, in a meaningless match, before the League 2 play-offs begin.

They came close though on Saturday and none more so than Stuart Lewis who struck the post with a shot from distance in the second half.

There were no goals in the first half but there was no shortage of goal-mouth action.

With just six minutes on the clock Andy Barcham tested visiting keeper Wayne Brown with a low deflected shot.

Brown held on comfortably to Barcham’s effort but he had to scramble and make a desperate stop from Mark McCammon’s flick-on moments later.

At the other end Simon Royce did well to save one-handed from Glynn Hurst.

There were claims for a penalty from Simeon Jackson after 13 minutes when he was shoved over in the box by Efe Sodje.

Brown continued to thwart Gillingham in the first half as he held onto McCammon’s header and Josh Wright’s free-kick. Midfielder Wright was denied again by Brown just before the interval, as he stabbed an effort towards goal.

Bury threatened in the early stages of the second half, with Andy Bishop glancing a header wide, and Elliott Bennett lashing a shot over the bar.

Jackson struck a shot across the face of the goal with an hour gone and ten minutes later Lewis struck a shot against the post from outside the area.

Gillingham dominated the rest of the half but were unable to find the all-important goal.

“Bury were lucky,” said Gills boss Mark Stimson. “I don’t think they came to win the game, they came to get a point and that’s what they got, but they had some luck on the way.

“Some of our play was excellent and I enjoyed watching it and it was unfortunate that we didn’t get enough opportunities to test the goalkeeper.

“I said to the players after the game if you can bring that to the play-offs then you have a great chance of going to Wembley and what a great way of finishing the season that would be.

“The boys have been playing some decent stuff in the last three games. Against a good Bury side on Saturday we were always in control and it was just a matter of getting a little break in front of goal.”

Gills: Royce, Fuller, Nutter, Lewis, King, Richards, Jackson, Wright (Oli 61mins), Weston, McCammon, Barcham. Subs not used: Julian, Steer, Southall, Bentley.

Bury: Brown, Buchanan, Haslam, Futcher, Hurst (Jevons 83mins), Bishop, Barry-Murphy, Jones (Dawson 73mins), Sodje, Bennett, Welsh. Subs not used: Cresswell, Racchi, Morrell.

Attendance: 8,360.