Brewers and Fleetwood will have better days

It was not a pleasant day’s football at the Pirelli Stadium on Saturday, to say the least, as two struggling teams battled, largely in vain, to try to do a few things right. For the most part, Burton Albion and Fleetwood Town failed to do so in their 1-1 draw and the vitriol that was flying around afterwards from supporters was perfectly understandable. It is often at its loudest in the immediate hours after the game, when emotions are running high.

It was higher this time than in some games that the Brewers have lost and, most certainly, Albion have played a lot better and lost; Fleetwood no doubt likewise. For what it’s worth, it was the first draw in League matches between the sides and they have won eight each.

There have been some cracking games along the way, thrashings on both sides and some ding-dong battles, like the two the Brewers have edged 3-2 in recent seasons. This was not among them. Junior Quitirna’s stunning goal for Fleetwood, to cancel out Joe Powell’s goal for Burton only two minutes later, stood out as a beacon, a brilliant moment in a morass of mediocrity. Even the player admitted he could hardly believe he had done it, as his long-range shot arced perfectly, high over Max Crocombe and ran out of steam at just the right moment to drop under the bar.

Joe Powell slams in the rebound to put Burton ahead after his penalty had been saved in the first half. (Image: Mick Haynes/ Epic Action Imagery)

That apart, little else went right for both sides. But in among all the gloom about the performance, there are always other factors to consider. Some of them understandably get lost in the emotion of the moment and some are forgotten – because, after all, who does not want to forget that game? Here are a few of those other factors.

Both teams set out to do the right thing: Dino Maamria does want his Burton Albion team to play more football than they have been doing. His detractors refuse to believe it but it’s true. Whether they can evolve – quickly – into a team capable of it remains to be seen.

Fleetwood’s new manager, Lee Johnson, also prefers a passing style. His Sunderland side passed Burton off the park in a 3-0 win at the Pirelli Stadium in February, 2021, one of the best performances seen from a visiting side in recent years. Had they been able to play like that every week, they would have walked the division that season. So, both Fleetwood and Burton set out to pass it from the back on Saturday.

Were their opponents too good at stopping them doing so – or were they not good enough to do it successfully? The answer is probably a bit of both but what happened on Saturday is that both sides repeatedly ran out of options and eventually played a high ball forward – giving rise to accusations of “hoof ball” again. When Burton get it right, it looks great. The move for the third goal against Port Vale last week was sublime, pure football. But it has been something of a one-off so far.

Ryan Sweeney looked the part: Sweeney has an excellent career record as a centre-half and captained a title-winning side in Scotland last season, with Dundee, but his Burton Albion spell did not start well. On the left side of a back three, he was given trouble by wingers against Leicester City in the Carabao Cup and in the League against Derby County.

Replacing the injured Jasper Moon on Saturday in a back four, he won every header. Not too much can be concluded, given that Fleetwood played into the hands of a tall centre-half with hopeful balls forward, just as Burton played into the hands of the Fleetwood defenders. But Sweeney looked much more the part as an orthodox centre-half in a back four and the fact cannot have escaped Maamria.

Kwadwo Baah's shot beats Connor Ripley in the Port Vale goal for what Dino Maamria rates the best Burton Albion goal since he took charge. (Image: Richard Burley/ Epic Action Imagery)

Kwadwo Baah will have better days: The Watford loanee had been electrifying on his first start for Burton on Tuesday against Port Vale and scored a brilliant goal. He had promised moments like it in his substitute appearances before that. But wingers are wingers and there will be days when nothing goes right for them. For him, this was one. Baah was well policed by Fleetwood and ran into blind alleys repeatedly.

There was a fellow somewhere behind me in the stand – it has always been the way – who was shouting “get him off Dino” as a mantra for much of the second half. As an older observer, I was transported back to the early eighties and a bloke shouting “get him off Warnock” from the stand at Eton Park as Paul Froggatt ran into blind alleys. Froggatt was good enough to clock up 200 appearances though. Baah will have better days. Maamria persisted with him until the 82nd minute and you could see why. There is always the chance he will suddenly do something sensational and win a tight game. Not this time.

A week with four points: A draw with an in-form Port Vale away and a home win over a beleaguered Fleetwood Town would have brought the Brewers the same four points in a week that they got by doing it the other way around. Perhaps the biggest shame is that the good performance was not served up for home fans. Although a good few watch on Iplayer these days, a large chunk of Burton’s supporters judge only by what they see at the Pirelli and they did not like what they saw. A home League win has to come soon to begin to restore the faith among a demanding fan base.

All of our Burton Albion news appears daily in the Burton Mail. Much of it can also be found here: www.derbytelegraph.co.uk/all-about/burton-albion and here: https://www.staffordshire-live.co.uk/sport/