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| TV horror show |
| A
lesson in the harsh realities of life in the Nationwide Conference continued
on Monday night as the Brewers crashed 3-0 to an impressive Barnet side,
the first time since April 2000 Albion have lost two league games in
succession. Still smarting from their 4-2 reversal at Leigh RMI on Saturday, manager Nigel Clough made wholesale changes to his side, with Glen Kirkwood, Steve Evans, Dale Anderson, Paul Talbot and Jason Kavanagh all axed from the starting line-up. Clough himself returned to the thick of things, and was at the heart of some promising early play for the Brewers, who, while they passed the ball around fluently, rarely looked like breaching a professional and well-drilled Barnet defence, save for an early Sean Farrell effort into the arms of Bees 'keeper Lee Harrison. |
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| Just
as on Saturday, the kind of defensive frailties which would go unpunished
in the UniBond League were soon exposed, this time in front of the full glare
of the live Sky television cameras, as visiting skipper Mark Arber rose above
a statuesque Albion defence to head home the opening goal from Mark Gower's
corner on 26 minutes. Seven minutes later, and Albion's early good work continued to come apart at the seams as Albion failed to learn their lesson from the first goal, this time Junior Agogo being allowed time and space to fire home after Arber had nodded down another Gower corner. The Brewers needed a spark, and the home fans hoped it would come with the introduction of Dale Anderson for the second half. Anderson's pace and willingness to run at defenders seemed to promise a way back into the game for Albion, who came close to pulling one back when Mark Blount headed an Andy Sinton corner straight at Harrison. But in the event it was Barnet who added to their tally, Gower the provider turned scorer this time, his pacy run in from the left causing the Albion defence to retreat, allowing him to fire a low shot past Matt Duke from 20 yards. Albion played some of their most threatening football of the night in the closing stages, substitute Kirkwood and Aaron Webster coming close with headers, the latter producing a fine save from Harrison, but by this time it was too late, Peter Shreeve's side having long since secured their second victory of the season. |
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After
the match, Nigel Clough refused to be too critical of his side's performance.
"I've no complaints about the result at Leigh because we were rubbish
but I thought 3-0 was a bit harsh on us," he told the Burton Mail,
"In terms of effort, application and all those sorts of things it was much,
much better. We knocked the ball about quite well and just needed a little
more quality in the final third because we didn't create too much." Clough was however critical of the defensive errors at corners which had cost them the first two goals, and promised more team changes if form continues to slump: "We're going to keep playing exactly the same way because generally there wasn't too much wrong," said Clough, "Players will either get through it or they won't. If they don't then they'll go out of the team." Next up for the Brewers is Saturday's trip to the Buck's Head where they take on Telford United (3pm). |
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| Back down to earth |
| After
a creditable home draw with Scarborough and a fine away victory at Northwich
in their opening two matches, the Brewers were shown just how tough life
in the Conference can be, after taking a 4-2 hammering at Leigh RMI on
Saturday. Leigh are one of the poor relations of the Conference with minimal resources and low crowds, have surprised many teams since winning the UniBond League title in 2000, and it was the Brewers' turn to suffer at the hands of Steve Waywell's side, who condemned them to their first league reversal since the 3-2 capitulation at Emley last December. Nigel Clough had chosen to leave himself out of the starting line-up to allow Andy Sinton his first start, and it all seemed to be going so swimmingly for the Brewers when Steve Evans' ball in from the left skimmed the wet turf and was allowed through his grasp by embarassed RMI 'keeper Stuart Coburn on 13 minutes. |
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| But
Albion's lead was short-lived, and two minutes later it was Brewers 'keepr
Matt Duke's turn to feel red faced, former Doncaster Rovers striker Dino
Maamria on hand to fire home from close range after Duke had spilled Andy
Heald's long-range free-kick. Leigh went ahead on 21 minutes, Ged Kielty slotting home inside the six yard box from Dominic Ludden's cross, after good build-up work from Tony Black, and a nightmare first half was complete after Albion wastefully squandered possession, Heald sending Maamria racing through past a statuesque Burton defence to claim his second. At half time Nigel Clough brought on Christian Moore, rested on the bench after his heroics in the first two games, and Darren Stride, back in action after recovering from his dislocated shoulder, but the Brewers were staring down the barrel of an even more damning defeat when Maamria completed his hat-trick within just four minutes of the restart, spectacularly firing home Ian Monk's cross in from the right. Christian Moore pulled one back 18 minutes from time, slotting home Paul Talbot's cross from close range, but it was little consolation for Albion, who will be taking a long hard look at their performance, and will be looking to bounce back with an imrpoved display in front of the Sky Television cameras against Barnet at Eton Park on Monday evening (7.45pm). |
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| Moore propels Albion to Vics-tory |
| Albion
notched up their first Nationwide Conference victory with a convincing 3-1
result in the first away match of the season, at Northwich Victoria on Tuesday
night. The Brewers stormed into a 3-0 lead inside half an hour, in another end-to-end encounter at Vics' temporary home at Wincham Park. The first goal took just four minutes to arrive, Glen Kirkwood nodding down Colin Hoyle's cross for Christian Moore to fire home at the second attempt after Vics 'keeper Paul Gibson had blocked his first effort on goal. Ten minutes later, it was 2-0, Moore again the scorer, the Brewers striker capitalising on poor goalkeeping of Paul Talbot's corner kick from Gibson to fire home unchallenged from inside the six yard box. |
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| Dale
Anderson, a starter in place of Aaron Webster, completed what proved to be
an unsurmountable lead, although man of the match Moore was again instrumental,
holding up Matt Duke's throw out for just the right length of time before
setting his strike partner free with a killer pass, Anderson cutting
inside Greg Rioch, son of Bruce on the left before curling the ball inside
the far post. Rioch gave the home side hope for the second half by pulling a goal back with a 30-yard screamer three minutes later, but Nigel Clough's side understandably were happy to defend deep after the break to defend their lead, and Northwich rarely caused Matt Duke any problems, and when they did, like with Dave McNiven's late effort, Duke was more than equal to it. Albion had their chances to increase their lead, Glen Kirkwood and Jason Kavanagh coming close with a long-range efforts, but Nigel Clough will be more than happy with a polished, professoinal performance by his team, in a high quality match which even the efforts of an inept, card-happy referee couldn't ruin. The Brewers return to Cheshire for Saturday's trip to Leigh RMI (3pm), the first leg of a Bank Holiday weekend double header culminating in Monday night's televised clash with Barnet at Eton Park (7.45). |
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| Evo opens Albion account |
| So
this is the Conference... A pulsating encounter in blistering August sunshine
gave plenty of enterainment value to the crowd of 1,821 - it looked
a lot more than that - as the Brewers began life in the top flight of non-league
football with a creditable point against Russell Slade's men. In a boistorous atmosphere, with some handbags posturing on the Derby Road End terrace providing the off-the-field entertainment, goalscoring chances were at a premium in the first half, Nigel Clough coming close in the early stages with a free kick wihch bobbled just wide of the post, and Seadogs 'keeper Andy Woods having to be alert to deny Glen Kirkwood, who had an impressive debut for the Brewers. |
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| Scarborough
had a penalty appeal turned down when Neil Campbell stumbled in the box under
pressure from Colin Hoyle, but took the lead five minutes before half time,
Karl Rose forcing in Gareth Stoker's cross from the edge of the six yard
box. There was no let-up in pace in the second half despite temperatures in the mid 20's, and after early Boro dominance, Albion opened their Conference account on 66 minutes. Christian Moore broke down the left flank and did well to get into the visitors penalty area, combining with Aaron Webster to swing in a cross headed firmly home at the far post by Steve Evans. The end-to-end football continued with Albion having to scramble the ball off the line, and Woods again came to Scarborough's rescue with a fine save to push Christian Moore's goalbound header over the bar. |
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That
was the nearest Albion came to victory, despite being temporarily a man up
with Boro's Nicky Henry being sent off five minutes from time after appearing
to wrestle Nigel Clough by the neck. The Brewers boss will be happy with a point, especially given that his starting line-up was missing skipper Darren Stride and defender Darren Wassall, both of whom are carrying injuries, as well as Dale Anderson and new eve-of-season star signing Andy Sinton, suffering from a virus and a cricked neck respectively, and both making substitute appearances in this match. |
| The
signing of Sinton (pictured), who put pen to paper only a day before
the start of the season, was a real coup for the Brewers. The 36-year old
winger, a former England International and Tottenham, Sheffield Wednesday
and QPR favourite, was playing Nationwide Division One football with Wolves
as recently as last season, and had solicited the interest of a number of
League sides after going out of contract at Molineux. |
| Sinton
told the Burton Mail that the Albion player-manager had been the major
factor in his decision to come to Eton Park: "Nigel has been very persuasive
and he's the main reason I've decided to leave the full-time scene behind,"
said Sinton, "What he wants fits in with what I want from the rest of my career and my life. Basically that is to continue playing football and also to be part of seeing my three young children doing things each day that they won't do again. "Money was never the issue. It was just a question of being comfortable with what I wanted at this stage of my career. Also, Nigel's well-respected and has got similar views and standards to myself and that was another of the appealing things about joining Burton." |
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| Albion continue their Conference campaign with a visit to the Bargain Booze Stadium, home of Witton Albion and temporarily of Tuesday's opponents Northwich Victoria (7.45pm). |
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| News - August 2002 | << main >> |
