Bury boss Ryan Lowe hails Joe Murphy penalty save in win against Exeter

Bury boss Ryan Lowe was “over the moon” with his side’s battling 2-0 win over Exeter – but knows it could easily have been a different story.

With the hosts 1-0 up, goalkeeper Joe Murphy pulled off a brilliant penalty save to thwart Jayden Stockley.

Byron Moore then added to Jay O’Shea’s opener to extend the Shakers’ unbeaten run in Sky Bet League Two to five games.

“I’m over the moon with three points whatever the scoreline, but it could have been different if they’d have scored the penalty,” said Lowe.

“Credit to Murph for a great save. The save has given us that little bit of desire to go and get the next goal.

“We do our homework on penalties, we don’t just sit back and drink tea everyday.

“Credit to them because they came out in the second half and gave it a real go, but I’m pleased with the overall performance.

“It was an ugly performance second half, but we haven’t won a half like that this season. Hopefully that’s the first of many.”

Bury are two points off the automatic promotion places after a fourth win in five outings.

Lowe added: “I’m pleased that we’ve only won 2-0 to be honest because expectations are probably going to go through the roof.

“If it had been 1-0 then I would have probably had a few pints tonight, I’d have been happier with a 1-0 rather than 2-0.

“We were never going to come off our game plan and get carried away with our form.

“We’ve still got a long way to go and there’s more matches to win, so I want us to keep putting performances in.

“The pitch was wet, but it was brilliant considering the downpour we had.

“We played our way, did the right things and made sure we weren’t sloppy.

“As long as the lads stick to the game plan, then we’re more than happy we’ll get results. We got another good one today.”

Grecians manager Matt Taylor was frustrated with his side’s first-half display.

“We got enough good opportunities to get back in that game, but the penalty’s a big moment and then that second goal killed us,” he said.

“We’ve got to be better than we showed in the first half. We have better players than that.

“We made Bury look like a better team than they were at times.

“It’s so disappointed because when we play like we did second half we give ourselves a chance, but when you play like we did in the first half we don’t.

“It’s so frustrating because this group of players know how good they can be.

“They’ve lost a bit of confidence. They come in at half-time and they are flat. Hopefully they’ve not lost their self belief.

“They just have to have more confidence in using the ball and we got close to getting a reward from it.”