Jake shocked by early blow in home loss
JAKE Buxton’s disappointment with Burton Albion’s 4-2 home defeat to Portsmouth was heightened by the fact that his team had gone in at half-time leading 2-1 and in good shape to go on and win the game.
Instead, they conceded an equaliser within two minutes of the restart and looked well beaten by the end of the game.
The Brewers had also conceded within two minutes of the start of the first half but stormed back to take the lead.
“It was a game of two halves. Obviously, I expected a reaction from the disappointing performance at Swindon and to concede that early – I was a little bit shocked,” said Buxton.
“Credit to the players for the character they showed to get back into the game. We showed some great play in the first half.
“We were aggressive and won all the individual battles.
“We nullified Portsmouth and kept them to limited opportunities in the first half.
“We had won the fight. We knew Portsmouth would go long and try to pick up second balls but we out-ran and out-fought them in the first half.
“We needed very much the same in the second half but again we conceded early.
“I think that affected us and we didn’t look like getting back into it.
“We had spoken at half-time about expecting a reaction from Portsmouth, so to concede early again was disappointing. The game changed, the momentum switched.”
The Brewers’ weakness at set-pieces, either in not winning the first header or, then, not getting to loose balls in the box first, was again painfully evident and is frustrating the manager.
“We are still vulnerable from set-plays coming into our box, we have been for a while now,” said Buxton.
“We walk through them in training, we do the work but we obviously need a bit more emphasis on the demands from each player, to say ‘my man doesn’t score, he doesn’t get a clean header.’
“We had it last year and tried not to make a massive deal of it because, if you do, it’s the same as talking about someone not scoring, that player can become uptight about it.
“It’s exactly the same with the set-plays but, yes, I’m really frustrated and annoyed with it. We’ll be making sure we get to the bottom of that.
“First and foremost, when it comes in, the first contact is not clearing the box, so we’re not clearing our lines cleanly, or heading it big.
“Then, when it drops in the box, the opposition are looking livelier. The backheel was a clever finish from Marcus Harness but he should have a man close to him and tight – he’s not swivelled and turned.”
A well-taken hat-trick for former Brewer Harness rubbed salt in the wounds and his was a threat Buxton had been well aware of.
“In the first half, we limited the space Marcus could get into,” said Buxton.
“He had flashes and got into good areas but we had bodies around him.
“In the second half, once the game had gone to 2-2 and then we conceded again, as we tried to get back into the game, the spaces got bigger and we looked vulnerable on the counter.
“We should deal with it. If we don’t concede early, if we defend set-plays, we would stay compact and Portsmouth would still be thrashing long balls.
“We didn’t and we paid the price.”
Burton have yet to keep a clean sheet in competitive action this season and that is obviously a big concern for Buxton.
“We’re going back to Stoke in pre-season (for a clean sheet),” he said.
“I have been banging the drum about a pack mentality and being hard to beat. The message today was to be hard to beat but we weren’t as good as we should be without the ball.”