CONTROVERSY AS ALBION DENIED WIN AGAINST SHREWS
CONTROVERSIAL GOAL DENIES ALBION VICTORY
BURTON Albion were cruelly denied the win and the clean sheet they have been craving at Shrewsbury Town’s Montgomery Waters Meadow when the home side scrambled in a controversial equaliser in the ninth minute of stoppage time from a corner.
The Brewers did not even think it had been a corner in the first place but there was nothing they could do to change the decision and the win they looked to be getting from Kane Hemmings’ second-half goal was snatched away.
A win would have been no more than they deserved, either, from a solid, determined performance in which they had the better chances.
In fact, the two League One strugglers, on six points apiece before the game, served up an intriguing, honest clash with scarcely a bad challenge or a hint of gamesmanship.
The return to fitness of captain John Brayford, a little earlier than expected, allowed manager Jake Buxton to shuffle his pack and he also recalled Neal Eardley, Ryan Edwards and Charles Vernam to the starting line-up, after they had been on the bench for Saturday’s 2-1 home defeat to Blackpool.
John-joe O’toole, called out by his manager after conceding the penalty from which Blackpool eventually won the game, dropped to the bench, as did Ciaran Gilligan and Niall Ennis, while Indiana Vassilev was left out of the 18.
Vernam was soon showing himself to be Burton’s biggest threat, just as he had from the bench on Saturday.
After five minutes, from a testing cross from the left by Colin Daniel, Steven Lawless laid the ball off for Vernam and his shot from a tight angle took a touch off a Shrewsbury boot to skid wide.
Shrewsbury’s first chance, three minutes later, came out of nothing and illustrated Burton’s vulnerability to long balls bouncing beyond the back four.
Jason Cummings latched on to a huge hoof forward but, as the angle tightened on the right, he shot into the side-netting.
Vernam threatened again after 12 minutes, cutting out a loose pass from centre-back Ethan EbanksLandell, slipping past the defender to cut inside before having a shot blocked, Edwards then having another blocked as Burton stayed on the attack.
Charlie Daniels hit a 30-yard free kick well over the bar for Shrewsbury in the 18th minute but, largely, the Brewers were having the better of the game.
Edwards appeared to be unlucky to be booked for diving in the 24th minute when he chased a loose ball near the Shrewsbury by-line and went flying over a defender’s foot.
The half-chances continued to come Burton’s way but a shot from Stephen Quinn lacked the power to trouble keeper Harry Burgoyne and Hemmings had a hooked shot blocked when Vernam headed down a cross from Eardley.
A cross from Edwards from the
right in the 39th minute did not look like it would reach Vernam but, when it did, a Shrewsbury foot again got in a block.
There were some alarms for Albion towards half-time, not least when Kieran O’hara fumbled a cross from Marlon Fossey and it needed a fine block by Brayford to prevent Dan Udoh from capitalising.
O’hara also punched two corners, the second of them weakly but he redeemed himself by saving Ollie Norburn’s resultant shot, the ball flicking off the outside of his righthand post.
As always of late, the concern for Burton was how they would start the second half and Shrewsbury pressed them back to start with, without creating any chances.
The Shrews were forced into the first change after 52 minutes when Fossey limped off after lengthy treatment, to be replaced by Brad Walker.
A slack pass by Quinn let Cummings run at Burton after 55 minutes. The danger passed but it was just the sort of slip that has been costing the Brewers dearly this season.
A quick Shrewsbury break led to a chance for Jan Zamburek 16 yards
ou out after 58 minutes but O’hara got do down to his right to turn the ball aw away for a corner.
Within a minute, Burton were ah ahead after Vernam burst purposefu fully forward from halfway on the rig right and picked out Edwards’ run th through the middle.
Burgoyne came out to block the As Asutralian’s shot but Hemmings arrived to slot the ball in from the edge of the box with the keeper helpless.
O’hara pulled off a brilliant save to his left to preserve the lead after 68 minutes when Cummings spun 12 yards out and got in a fierce volley.
The striker got much less of a connection on another effort a couple of minutes later and O’hara dropped on the ball comfortably but it was looking like being a nervy last 20 minutes for the Brewers.
There was a worrying moment in the 76th minute when Shrews subsitutute Josh Daniels crashed into Brayford late as he made a clearance but the Brewers captain picked himself up in time to see his opponent booked.
Pugh, with his first touch from the bench, hooked a volley wide for the home side after 80 minutes and Burton, predictably, were having to defend in depth in the last 10 minutes.
Edwards aimed to relieve the pressure with an 88th-minute run out of defence which was halted by Ebanks-landell at the expense of a booking.
The Brewers also had to endure six minutes of stoppage time and, in the last of them, O’hara made another superb stop from Aaron Pierre’s header.
But there was a twist to come when, from a final corner, eight minutes into stoppage time, Udoh forced the ball over the line in a melee, the linesman giving the goal, to the fury of the Brewers players.
It was a heartbreaking moment and not one they deserved.