The red card was controversial as Hull thought they had earned a penalty for Phil Gulliver's tackle on the Tigers captain. However, expected joy turned to disbelief as referee Brian Curson brandished a second yellow card in the midfielder's faith.
"When the referee started to run over I thought he was going to give a penalty," said Bury player manager Andy Preece.
"I didn't think there was any contact but it would have been easy to give a penalty, especially in front of the Hull fans."
"We would have been devastated and dejected had we conceded a penalty so late in the game especially after what happened to us against Oxford last Saturday."In contrast Hull Manager Peter Taylor believed Mr Curson had made an error of judgement.
"Ian Ashbee says there was a slight touch and I thought when the referee blew that he was going to give a penalty. You've got to be surprised to see a player sent off in that situation."
Bury supporters were expecting another heavy defeat after their team's demolition by Oxford. Instead the fans saw a far more committed performance from the home side.
"The worst thing that could have happened to us was Bury losing 4-0 to Oxford, because I knew Andy would make sure they would come at us like trains.
Hull had the better of the opening half with Danny Allsopp and Ben Burgess, scoring 14 goals between them this season, full of running. Burgess twice brought excellent saves out of Glyn Garner while Damien Delaney and Ashbee forced the goalkeeper into all the stops.
Bury improved, though, after the break and Gareth Seddon had Paul Musselwhite scrambling across his line for what would have been a shock lead.
Bury also believed they should have had a penalty of their own when Justin Whittle appeared to handle a shot by Harpal Singh.
Once again Referree Curson turned down the appeals. Taylor brought on his three substitutes in a bid to break the stalemate. But Garner saved well from Jamie Forrester and did even better to keep out a low close range drive from the non-stop Jason Price.