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| August 1998 Match Reports | |
Saturday 20th February 1999 Last gasp sickener at Sheepy Road Dr. Martens League Premier Division: Atherstone United 2 Burton Albion 2 Albion looked set to continue their schizophrenic form, with a fifth successive away victory to compliment their five-in-a-row home defeats, until perennial party-poopers Atherstone stole a point, courtesy of a goal four minutes from time by substitute Stuart Aubury, in front of 502 at Sheepy Road. Brewers boss Nigel Clough had to make sweeping changes to his team, with Steve Spooner, Darren Grocutt, Wayne Sutton, Brendan Hackett, Pat Lyons and David Holmes all ruled out through injury. Darren Stride made a welcome return to the side, Ruben Francis was started for the first time in league action, and newcomer 20 year-old Micky Mason - who arrived on a months loan from Nationwide League side Macclesfield Town this week - made his debut on the left side of midfield. The "new boy" made an immediate impression, bringing some much needed pace to the midfield, and with Ruben Francis also looking a threat, the Brewers were looking a lot livelier than in recent games. It took just nine minutes for them to go in front - Andy Garner flicking on Matthew Smith's throw-in, Tony Marsden chesting the ball down, and drilling home past keeper Dale Belford. Nigel Clough had a shot sail over the bar, and Mason beat full-back Scott Blair with his pace to set-up Francis, but Belford was alert, and came out to block. Against the run of play, Atherstone levelled on 35 minutes. A corner was cleared out of the Burton box, but fell to Paul Olner, who fired in a wicked shot from 20 yards which the diving Goodwin could only get his fingertips too. Another Sheepy Road collapse was looming on the horizon, but within a minute the Brewers were back in front. The same players were involved as for the first goal - this time Matt Smith provided the cross, Andy Garner's volley was parried by a brilliant save from Belford, but Tony Marsden was at hand, stooping to head in the rebound from close range - the fourth goal he's put past the Adders keeper this month. The second half failed to live up to the first, and degenerated into a rather scrappy affair on the typically windswept Sheepy Road ground. The significant event of the half was the arrival of "super-sub" Stuart Aubury on 67 minutes. Aubury - who came on to score against Gresley on Monday - repeated the feat again, just as the Brewers looked odds-on to take all three points, with a sickening 86th minute equaliser. So ultimately a disappointing afternoon for the Brewers, but Nigel Clough can at least take heart from an improved performance by his team. More of the same is needed when the travelling really starts on Tuesday evening (Kick-Off 7.30pm) when the Brewers travel to Hastings Town, followed swiftly by trips to Weymouth on Saturday (27th February, Kick-Off 3pm) and Cambridge City the following Tuesday (2nd March).
Saturday 13th February 1999 Cloughs watch on as Brewers lose again Dr. Martens League Premier Division: Burton Albion 0 Bath City 1 Brian Clough was at Eton Park yesterday to watch his son's team in action for the first time, but the old maestro of passing football will not have been impressed by a scrappy game of few chances, and another ineffective performance from the Brewers. Their fifth successive home league defeat of the season leaves Albion just one place above the relegation zone. Clough Jnr. too had to watch the best part of the match from the touchline after a dreadful 11th minute tackle by the appropriately named Rob Skidmore put the Burton player-boss out of action. Skidmore escaped with a yellow card but Clough hobbled off eight minutes later with a badly gashed knee. And Clough wasn't the only casualty of the afternoon - Brendan Hackett also had to be taken off after colliding with an advertising hoarding. High-flying Bath didn't live up to expectations, but it's measure of just how badly Albion are playing at the moment that the visitors' goal rarely looked threatened all afternoon. The only way Albion would have scored was if "dodgy" City keeper Mark Hervin had dropped the ball into his own net. The goal for Bath came three minutes before the interval - Mike Davies' cross caused a goalmouth scramble, with Alan Davies clearing off the line, before Steve White finally poked the ball in from close range. The visitors were happy to sit on their lead and invite Albion to attack in the second half, but despite a sustained spell of home possession in which the ball hardly came out of the Bath half, any "attacking" move the Brewers could cobble together invariably spluttered out before it had begun. Nothing was happening between Garner and young debutant Chris Payne upfront, and Lyons and Holmes were providing little threat down the flanks. Mark Blount had two chances to shoot but fired tamely at the Bath keeper, before the best chance of the game fell to David Holmes, cutting through from a Payne through ball to beat Hervin with a shot, only for City player manager Paul Bodin to clear off the line. The Brewers won a series of late corners, but Tony Marsden wasted the best of them, heading tamely from inside the six yard box. And so it finished. The statistics speak for themselves - ten home league defeats now this season - five of them coming in succession since the defeat at home to Boston on 3rd January, and Albion losing six of them by a single goal. With this kind of home record, even the arduous task of making four away trips within ten days (to Atherstone (next Saturday, 20th Feb), Hastings (Tue 23rd), Weymouth (Sat 27th), and Cambridge (Tuesday 2nd March) seems almost welcome, even though the Brewers will be clocking up more than a thousand miles altogether, in a fixture pile-up they must take points from to avoid sinking ever deeper into the relegation mire.
Saturday 6th February 1999 Cloughie's shot can't stop the home rot Dr. Martens League Premier Division: Burton Albion 1 Salisbury City 2 Eton Park used to be a tough place for opposition players to visit. Nowadays it's virtually three guaranteed points for whoever comes to to visit. Yesterday Salisbury City were the lucky recipients, not that there was any luck involved - they were the better team, and the margin could have been greater. Salisbury - in a fine run of form at the moment - have now won nine of the last eleven games, whilst Albion can only reflect on a dismal home record - nine home defeats so far this season - four of them in 1999. Even Nigel Clough's first ever goal for the Brewers wasn't enough to shake his team out of the rut they appear to be stuck in, though they started brightly enough in this match. David Holmes turned his marker inside the box and chipped Matthews with less than 90 seconds gone, forcing the Salisbury keeper to tip over. On eight minutes Albion were ahead. The moment fans had been waiting for - a first goal for the club by player-manager Nigel Clough, was quite spectacular, if more than a bit flukey! Clough picked the ball up 25 yards out and unleashed a blistering drive which riccocheted off Salisbury defender Ewens and past the wrongfooted Matthews. Despite this setback, Salisbury came back well, and were looking confident on the ball. Tyrone Bowers came close with a shot which flashed across the face of goal, before Paul Sales delivered the equaliser his team had been threatening, on 18 minutes. Housley's cross in from the left sailed over the heads of three Albion defenders, and Sales snuck in to volley home from close range. The game was flowing nicely at this stage, and Clough almost found an immediate response when his shot from the edge of the box went just wide. But Salisbury continued to look the more dangerous going forward - Bowers had another shot wide on 36 minutes, and Sales blasted over soon after. The second half followed the same pattern as the first - with chances being created at both ends. Bowers made a crucial challenge to deny Tony Marsden, and Braybrook cleared a Garner header off the line, but again it was the visitors who had the knack of turning chances into goals, and just past the hour mark they were ahead. Housley got past Davies to turn in a low cross, Steve Spooner missed his chance to clear inside the six-yard box and Dave Bright capitalised, stabbing the ball in from close range. Steve Spooner saw a free-kick clip the bar, and Alan Davies fought through to shoot straight at Matthews as Albion pushed for an equaliser, but really from the moment the second Salisbury goal went you felt it was curtains for the Brewers, who once again lacked urgency and cutting edge upfront, and looked second-best to a Salisbury side brimming with confidence. With this kind of dreadful home form, the last thing Albion need is another match at Eton Park, but that's what they have next Saturday, 13th February, when Bath City visit Eton Park (Kick-Off 3pm). After that Nigel Clough will surely be glad to get on his travels, and there's certainly plenty of that to be done - three away trips, to Atherstone (Sat 20th), Hastings (Tue 23rd) and Weymouth (Sat 27th) fall within a week. Before all that Dr. Martens Midland Division Bilston Town come to Eton Park on Tuesday (9th February, Kick-Off 7.30pm) in the Dr. Martens League Cup, Third Round.
Tuesday 2nd February 1999 Two-goal Tony's a born-again predator Dr. Martens League Cup Second Round Replay: Burton Albion 2 Atherstone United 1 Just how much football-related excitement can you take on a Tuesday evening? Less than an hour after the England manager is sacked for his views on reincarnation, Tony Marsden banishes once and for all rumours that he was a donkey in a previous life, by smashing in two goals inside the first five minutes of this Dr. Martens League Cup replay, to add to the one he got against Grantham on Saturday. And Albion weathered a late rally by the Adders to set up another home tie against Dr. Martens Midland Division side Bilston Town next Tuesday, 9th February (Kick-Off 7.30pm but don't quote me on that! - Ed). The first goal was the result of a wonderful, swift passing move by the Brewers, culminating in another excellent cross from the left by Brendan Hackett - supplier of two of the goals at Grantham - with Marsden arriving amidst a crowd of players to find the net from close range. Within a minute it was 2-0 - Alan Davies - returning to the side from injury - this time swinging the ball in from the right - Marsden beating keeper Dale Belford at the second attempt. Steve Spooner had a shot saved by Belford, and the scoreline remained 2-0 at the interval. The best chances continued to fall to Albion - and in particular to David Holmes - in the second half, but the Brewers frontman couldn't kill off the game with a third goal. Holmes had a header which lacked the power to beat Belford, was caught fractionally offside with the Adders defence all at sea, and then beat the offside trap, only to carry the ball too far wide to be able to threaten the visitors goal. The Atherstone number 4 almost did the job for him with a bizzare backpass-cum-shot, which Belford had to dash back for, and appeared to hold before letting it go for a corner. As the game wore on, Albion were content to sit on their two goal cushion, not advisable against any team let alone Atherstone, and the Brewers' perrenial "bogey team" were back in the game on 68 minutes, when Danny Martin's shot deflected off Craig Smith - otherwise impeccable once again in the centre of defence - for an own goal. There were a few hairy moments, with David Hart seeing a shot go inches wide, but the small Eton Park crowd were spared the propsect of having to shiver through extra-time and penalties, and all were soon home in front of the fire to catch up on the latest installment in the bizarre soap-opera going on at Lancaster Gate.
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