Penalty heartache for unlucky Town
The Shakers' top scorer used all his striking nous to draw a foul out of the otherwise impressive Rob Atkinson in the box as he turned the defender and dusted himself down to fire home the spot-kick and give the visitors a share of the points.
It was a crushing blow to Town boss Neil Woods who had watched his side erase the memories of Port Vale with a stirring display that on another day would have seen them win.
But there aren't many more other days left and the longer this inability to cap performances with victories goes on, you fear for the relegation battle ahead.
Vale aside, Town have been in good form and some of the football again on Saturday was easy on the eye.
But the edginess that was visible to all after Jean-Louis Akpa Akpro had fired them into the lead on the hour was ultimately their undoing as they sat deeper and deeper, inviting a decent Bury side onto them.
And it cost them in the cruellest of ways – just when it looked like Bury were going to be the lucky charm again to end a winless streak.
Going into the first game of 2010, Town handed new loan signing from Portsmouth, Paris Cowan-Hall, a place on the bench after the 19 year old's switch north ahead of the match.
And he was joined by Barry Conlon, who dropped out of the starting XI despite his last-gasp penalty in that defeat to Port Vale that saw out 2009.
The Irishman was replaced by Akpa Akpro in one of two changes made by boss Woods – the other an enforced one after Olly Lancashire's recall to Southampton in midweek.
It meant Nicky Featherstone came back in for his last game of his initial loan from Hull, Peter Bore dropped to right-back again and Paul Linwood switched to centre-back alongside Atkinson.
Meanwhile, in the opposition defence, there were two familiar faces to Mariners fans in the shape of Ben Futcher and Tom Newey, in front of former Town trialist keeper Wayne Brown.
It was the Town backline in danger first on just three minutes when Andy Morrell worked himself space 18 yards out and fed strike partner Lowe but he pulled his shot well wide of the mark instead of punishing some lackadaisical defending.
There was an early booking for that Town backline when Linwood was cautioned for a trip on David Worrall on halfway.
It was a fairly even opening as both sides looked to gauge the snow-covered Blundell Park surface but the Mariners did start to enjoy more possession and won a first corner on 13 minutes.
From the set-piece, the ball was only half-headed clear to the edge of the box and Adam Proudlock controlled the ball before swivelling to fire a low left footer just the wrong side of the post.
A second corner soon after caused confusion in the Bury backline and Andy Morrell's unfortunate slice backwards had to be hoofed off the line by Stephen Dawson guarding the post.
Bury showed glimpses of their capabilities going forward but were largely frustrated by a Town backline marshalled well by Atkinson.
And it was Town who were to go closest to a breakthrough on 22 minutes when a quick free-kick saw the ball squared to Featherstone and he arrowed a left-footer on target from 20 yards that needed watching all the way by Brown.
The crowd were enthused and urged their team to maintain their forward thinking.
And in the lively front duo of Proudlock and Akpa Akpro they had good reason to be hopeful as the pair harried the Bury defence constantly.
Akpa Akpro got himself in behind that backline on 28 minutes before falling under a challenge outside the left edge of the box by advancing keeper Brown after just getting a toe to the ball first.
The crowd shouted for a red card but it was always going to be a yellow at worst and rightly so with the ball racing out of play and the Town frontman far too wide for it to be deemed a goalscoring opportunity.
From the free-kick, Peter Sweeney teed up Michael Coulson and he drilled a shot into the side-netting, deceiving fans in the Findus Stand who thought it had found the inside of the net.
Town again struggled to put the finishing touches to some neat play.
And they should have been punished when Dawson flicked the ball on to Jones in space in the box. He slipped and his shot turned into a pass to Dawson but he also slipped alongside the Town defence and Morrell tried to pull it back from an acute angle.
If that 'Dancing on Ice' moment was a let off, Town had an even bigger one less than a minute later when Lowe found space to shoot and as Nick Colgan stood and watched the side-footer go past him, seemingly for the bottom corner, the ball rebounded off the base of the post and back into his arms.
The Mariners continued where they had left off after the break, Bore's pace troubling Newey – booed with every touch – into conceding a corner less than a minute in.
From the kick, Atkinson sent a looping header towards the corner of goal before Dawson again got in a timely clearance off his own line and headed behind.
Town kept up the pressure and the crowd got behind them but Bury also sensed the game was there for the taking and upped their performance in response. And they had another great chance when Worrall found himself with a free header at the back post but he couldn't steer his effort on target with any power.
As they pushed forward, so did the Mariners and they finally made the breakthrough on the hour from the unlikely source of the recalled Akpa Akpro.
Without a goal this season, or in his previous 26 Town outings, the forward powered into the box to collect a neat ball from Featherstone and get in front of his man to rifle home in front of the Pontoon Stand.
Now they had a glorious chance to start the new year with a bang and that's exactly what happened to Proudlock, who needed treatment to his face following an unfortunate clash of heads during the goal celebrations with Damien McCrory. He was forced off and while he was having stitches, Conlon came on in his place.
Town had a long way to go and some battling at the back didn't ease any nerves on the chilly terraces.
Akpa Akpro could have done, though, had his shot from 10 yards not been kept out by Brown's feet after the Ivorian had outmuscled Efe Sodje to get his shot away.
It was a frantic finish on the cards and everybody inside Blundell Park willed their team to hold out.
And they looked like they might just do that after some heroic blocks as time ticked away.
But then, with just 90 seconds of normal time remaining, their hearts were broken when replacement referee Geoff Eltringham adjudged Atkinson to have brought down Lowe illegally in the box and pointed to the penalty spot.
Woods had his head in his hands and the outcome twisted the knife as Lowe scored high to Colgan's left despite the Irishman going the right way and getting fingertips to it.
A late run out got new boy Cowan-Hall a brief piece of the action but it was hard for him to make the impact Woods hopes he will in weeks to come.
Yet again, if points were awarded for performances, Town would be moving up the table.
But they remain adrift – maybe they are due to win a game fortuitously because playing well doesn't seem to do the trick at present.
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