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| February 2001 | 2000-2001 Archive Latest News |
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| 28-2-01 | Albion reach for the Sky | Yeovil (h) | |||
| 20-2-01 | Invicta win leaves Albion reeling | Folkestone (h) | |||
| 17-2-01 | Brewers stretch lead | Welling (a) | |||
| 14-2-01 | Fan reaction mars victory | Halesowen (h) | |||
| 3-2-01 | Trophy booster for Brewers | Scarborough (a) |
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| The FA Umbro Trophy
may be a long way behind in terms of priorities for most Brewers fans this
season, but the further they progress in the competition, the more mouthwatering
becomes the prospect of the Villa Park final in May.
The Brewers pulled off one of the great results in their history to book their passage to the Quarter Finals in front of 2,500 fans, and continue to travel a path untrodden since their Wembley season of 1986-87. |
| After
a goalless first half, the deadlock was broken just past the hour mark,
in controversial circumstances. Christian Moore raced through on goal (see
picture) before being brought down in the box by Yeovil 'keeper Tony
Pennock.
Despite the appeals of the crowd, Pennock was allowed to stay on the pitch, with Brewers boss Nigel Clough admitting afterwards he thought the official had not been at fault. |
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| "The ref was spot on," said
Clough after the game, "Christian was going wide. That was the right
decision." Moore dusted himself down to dispatch the penalty, and joy
turned to delirium two minutes from time when Dale Anderson latched
onto Darren Stride's through ball to beat two Yeovil defenders before slotting
the ball past Pennock.
Andy Lindegaard struck from 15 yards for the visitors to keep the pulses racing in a nerve-jangling seven minutes of injury time, but the Brewers held out to claim their third, and most illustrious Conference scalp of the season. It's back to the bread and butter of league action on Saturday, as Albion travel to St George's Lane to face John Barton's Worcester City (3pm). |
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| Invicta
win leaves Albion reeling
After the jubilation of victory at Welling on Saturday, came the grim realization that the Brewers just weren't good enough to beat a relegation-threatened Folkestone Invicta side, leaving their unbeaten home record this season in tatters, and their title ambitions severely dented. The fans seem to have heeded Nigel Clough's plea for unity at the weekend (there were no boos, even at the final whistle), but despite having enough chances to have comfortably won, the Brewers were found painfully lacking in ideas to break through a well-drilled Invicta defence after the Kent side grabbed a second goal shortly after the break.
The Brewers started
with Christian Moore recalled to the starting line-up to partner Phil Starbuck
up front, and with Jason Kavanagh reclaiming his right back slot. Kavanagh
it was who came closest to finding a way through for the Brewers in the early
stages, but his low driven shot on 12 minutes was pushed round by Folkestone
'keeper Dave Wietecha. |
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| Aaron Webster
saw a shot sail just wide, but it was the visitors who stunned the home fans
by taking the lead on 18 minutes. Steve Lawrence broke through on the right
before teeing up Nicky Dent to fire home a sublime shot from 15
yards.
Despite this setback, it looked only a matter of time before the Brewers would get back in the game, as they created all the chances, but failed to convert any of them. Aaron Webster was loking lively down the flanks again, and he almost fashioned a quick response for the Brewers, swinging in a dangerous cross from the left, but Phil Starbuck's header was saved by Wietecha. Starbuck turned provider on the half hour, finding Pat Lyons in a dangerous position inside the box, but Lyons' goal-bound shot was blocked by the Invicta defender. As the Brewers continued to pile on the pressure, Lyons saw another shot saved by the visitors 'keeper, and as the half drew to a close, Webster's cross in from the left bobbled dangerously around the visitors' box, but no yellow shirt could get hold of a lose ball. As they continued to push forward in search of the equalizer, Albion were always going to run the risk of suffering a counter-attack, and so it proved as Folkestone stunned their hosts with a second goal just five minutes after the restart. Anthony Hogg exploited acres of space down the right flank, and played the ball to Martin Chandler who's cross was swept home by Steve Lawrence. What looked like being a molehill of a task for the Brewers now became a mountain, as the Kent side, understandably, pulled nine men behind the ball. Albion continued to make all the play but couldn't find a way through the massed ranks of white shirts, and even when substitute Dale Anderson was thrown into the breach, it looked like being an increasingly desperate battle as the minutes ticked by. Darren Stride shot straight at the 'keeper on 70 miunutes, Phil Starbuck blasted over five minutes later,and Pat Lyons spurned a great chance to score when Stride headed into the box. The longer the game wore on, the less likely it seemed that the breakthrough would come. The Brewers quite simply ran out of ideas, and when two minutes from time Dale Anderson shot into the side netting from substitute David Holmes' cross, it summed up a frustrating, and in the end depressing night for the Brewers, for whom the title dream is now looking increasingly distant. |
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| Welling manager
Tony Reynolds handed a full league debut to promising striker Sam
Saunders, and Reynolds' faith in the youngster was rewarded when he fired
the Wings in front inside five minutes. Tony Dolby took advantage of a weak
clearance from former Boston United man David Rennie, to free Saunders down
the left flank, and he kept his cool to fire home with aplomb, to the delight
of the home fans.
Alarm bells were ringing for the visitors when Zeke Rowe's cross zipped dangerously across the Burton box, but the Brewers gradually began to work their way into the game as the half progressed. The lively Aaron Webster looked the most likely to cause problems for the Wings, and it was the ingenuity and doggedness of the youngster which delivered the equalizer on 25 minutes. |
| Webster
shrugged off the challenge of his marker to burst through on the left flank,
and swapped passes with Dale Anderson, before finding the net with a sweetly
struck shot from 15 yards. A late flurry of first half chances saw Wings
'keeper Glen Knight get down low to deny Darren Stride from close range,
while at the other end Matt Duke had to be alert to tip over a sliced clearance
from defender Terry Henshaw.
Burton continued to dominate after the break, but ten minutes in, midfielder Pat Lyons hesitated at the crucial moment in a one-on-one with Knight, after being sent clear by a killer ball from Neil Glasser. |
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Five minutes later however, the visitors were in front. Jason Kavanagh swung in a cross from the right, Knight could only parry as far as Darren Stride, and the Burton skipper (pictured) drove home with the ball taking a deflection off a Wings defender.
Burton looked to have done enough to secure the three points, but the travelling fans had to endure a nailbiting spell of injury time in which Welling came within inches of grabbing an equalizer. First, Lee Porter's shot from distance looked to have 'goal' written all over it but somehow struck the foot of the post before being pushed round by Duke.Then from the resulting corner the Brewers 'keeper pulled off a stunning reflex save to deny Anthony Riviere.
Duke has come in for a lot of stick this season but Burton fans could look back on his performance in this game as a cruicial moment when the story of the season comes to be written. What promises to be an intriguing title race continues to hot up on Tuesday night when Burton host Folkestone Invicta, while Margate, who now have four games in hand over the Brewers, travel to Ilkeston.
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| Fan
reaction mars victory
A spectacular overhead-kick goal from Darren Stride was the highlight of an otherwise mundane top against bottom clash at Eton Park, as the Brewers moved four points clear at the top of the Dr. Martens League. Listening to the boos at the end, you'd have thought it was Albion and not Halesowen who propped up the Premier Division table, as a section of supporters vented their disaffection with the spoiling tactics employed by Nigel Clough's side in the last ten minutes.
Former Brewers
boss John Barton, watching from the stands, must have thought nothing had
changed since his time in charge, and sadly it was this, rather than another
three points for the Brewers, which made the headlines, with chairman Ben
Robinson venting his outrage on the matter in tonight's Burton
Mail: |
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| "I'm disgusted,
I had to go into the dressing room and aplogize to the players after the
match," said Robinson, "Do these people who are shouting 'rubbish' at the
players and the management realize what damage they are doing to the morale
of the club?"
"In football people have a right to their opinions but for an Albion fan to shout 'rubbish' at their own players is disgraceful and if that continues I would rather these people did not come to the ground at all... These people should be behind the players and the manager even when we are playing a team from the bottom of the division because they are often the hardest games to win." To add to the unsavoury atmosphere, assistant manager Gary Crosby was involved in a 'heated discussion' with supporters who were barracking the team, and was forced to apologize for his actions in tonight's Mail. As for the match, it was pretty uninspiring stuff, with the Brewers having the better of the few chances on offer. Mark Blount thought he'd put Albion ahead early on, but the 'goal' was ruled out for offside, before Darren Stride broke the deadlock just past the half hour mark. Pat Lyons' corner was cleared as far as Aaron Webster, and his header fell nicely for Darren Stride to find the net in acrobatic fashion, with an overhead kick which left Yeltz 'keeper Andy Quy with no chance. It looked as though the Black Country side were there for the taking, but if the home fans were expecting a goal feast they were to be disappointed. Christian Moore twice spurned chances early in the second half, with a shot and a header aimed straight into the arms of Quy, and Dale Anderson shot into the side netting when he seemed certain to score, after a run from deep. Halesowen had offered precious little to trouble a solid Albion defence, and as the seconds ticked away the Brewers were content to play out time by keeping possession of the ball by the corner flags, to the disapproval of the fans. The chorus of boos which greeted the final whistle would have been even louder had Costas Xiourouppa made more of the one clearcut chance for the visitors, after skipper Stride uncharacteristically sliced the ball inside his own area two minutes from time. As it was, the one goal proved enough to clinch the points, but not to win the approval of everyone in the 1,006 crowd. |
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| Trophy
booster for Brewers
The Brewers took time-out from their recent poor run of league form to emerge (hopefully) refreshed and re-invigorated from their trip to the East Yorkshire coast, after dumping Scarborough out of the FA Umbro Trophy to take their place in the last 16 for the first time since 1987. On paper this looked a tough test for Albion, with key players Nigel Clough, Neil Glasser and Mark Blount all absent through injury, but an under-strength team looked anything but as Clough's men proved more than a match for the Conference side, albeit one with injury worries of their own.
After the Seadogs
had fired a few warning shots across Albion bows early on, it was the Brewers
who came closest to opening the scoring, Aaron Webster's floated free-kick
from the right clipping the Boro crossbar. |
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| On a pitch
heavy with water in patches, the Brewers were settling into their rhythym
nicely and showed a lot more fluency than in the lacklustre league performances
of late. They should have seized the lead on 22 minutes - Dale Anderson's
penetrating run down the left flank was finished off with a pinpoint cross
into the six yard box which was crying out for the head of a Stride or a
Rennie. Instead it found the diminuitive figure of Pat Lyons, who could
only direct the ball wide of Andy Woods' right-hand post.
Phil Starbuck, looking effective in his unfamiliar midfield berth, shot narrowly wide on 28 minutes after Webster's free-kick was cleared, and soon after, a charge from deep by Darren Stride, a giant at the heart of the Albion midfield in the kind of game he relishes, ended with the Brewers' skipper's cross from the right sailing harmlessly behind for want of a yellow shirt inside the box. Full-back Jason Kavanagh was pushing forward a lot more than of late, and the most threatening of his sorties into the Boro box came ten minutes before the break, a surging run from halfway line to penalty box ending with a shot deflected wide for a corner. |
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As
in the first half, Scarborough had the better of the early chances after
the break, David Pounder firing the best of them wide from the edge of the
box, but it was the Brewers who made their chances count.
Pat Lyons' corner was cleared as far as Phil Starbuck, who's shot was deflected round the post for a second corner. This time it was Webster who took it, the ball got a touch on before Darren Stride arrived to supply a stooping header which the Boro defender could only direct into his own net.
Scarborough almost
found an instant response, as Stuart Morris' shot looked a certain goal,
but remarkably rebounded off the post, across the line and into the arms
of Matt Duke. |
| The Brewers'
'keeper had looked a lot more commanding in the box in this game, and
while having few shots to trouble him, the one that he did need to make he
did in fine style, acrobatically tipping over Cherif Diallo's wicked shot
which was bound for the top right hand corner.
Twice the Brewers' had to scramble away dangerous shots into the crowded box as the home side desperately searched for an equalizer, but the Albion defence held firm, and the Brewers could even have added a second goal had Darren Stride's diving header from Webster's free-kick been a few inches the other side of Andy Woods' post. Albion looked to have done enough to win the game, and any lingering hopes of a revival amongst the home fans were extinguished when Boro were reduced to ten men two minutes from the end, Cherif Diallo's off-the-ball elbow on David Rennie earning him a red card for the second week in succession. A fine result and a fine performance for the 500 or so travelling fans to enjoy, but while the allure of the Trophy gets stronger the longer the competition goes on, it's the decidedly unglamorous business of a long trip to Havant & Waterlooville on Tuesday night (7.45pm) which will prove more important in the long run. |
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