Defeat stings – but we will stick to attacking aim
Buxton stands by positive approach after defeat to Bees BREWERS V BARNET MATCH REACTION: PAGES 36-39
JAKE Buxton is determined to stick to his guns after enduring the frustration of Burton Albion’s FA Cup exit.
A deflected shot from Wes Fonguck in the 10th minute – although it was a sweet strike from the Barnet man – was enough to earn the National League Bees a 1-0 win.
The Brewers spent the majority of the second half on the attack against a Barnet side reduced to 10 men by Matt Preston’s dismissal just before half-time – but could not find a way through.
But Buxton remains convinced his side went about the tie in the right way, without getting a break.
“We’ll continue to do everything we can do to get a result,” said the Burton manager, who finds himself under pressure in his first season in charge after a run of 11 games without a win.
“We’ll keep working on the training pitch and we hope the consistency and levels of performance of a few of the lads will come up a bit.
“(It would be a problem) if I was playing five or six at the back or I thought I wasn’t doing my job correctly, if I was erring on the side of caution.
“But we’re trying to win games. We have attacking players on the pitch and we’re trying to play the right way.
“We’re not resorting to going direct after 60 minutes. That’s not what we want to do.”
Buxton was never a man for excuses as a player and he has not changed as a manager – but he could not help ruing the Brewers’ luck in the last week, after they hit the bar twice against Barnet and were denied a clean sheet and a win against Shrewsbury Town in midweek by a controversial 99th-minute equaliser.
“We do need a break,” he conceded.
“I never used to like talking about
luck and breaks, I think you make your own luck.
“But this time we were unlucky. It was one of those days.
“I think if we were still playing now, with the luck, how things are going at the minute, we would not get a goal. Sometimes, we have not earned a break but I think we earned one today.
“With the football we played and the opportunities we created, we should have put the ball in the back of the net but, ultimately, if you don’t...
“They got a break – the shot hit the back of our lad’s shoulder and went in.”
Most of the Brewers’ best chances came in the second half.
“It’s tough because some days you don’t play well enough to win a game,” said Buxton.
“This time, we played well enough to get a goal.
“I have no problem with how we were in the second half.
“We wanted a little bit more quality after the first-half performance and, in the second half, we got that but it didn’t fall for us.
“Kane Hemmings hit the bar, Sam Hughes had two headers blocked on the line, Jack Roles had a shot late on, Colin Daniel had a go, Charles Vernam had a go, and Lucas Akins.
“Their goalkeeper, centre-half and left-back put in big performances and got blocks in but, sadly, when we went to block one, the ball went in off a shoulder.”
Burton now play Fulham Under-21s in a dead rubber EFL Trophy group game tomorrow night.
Then they return to League One action on Saturday with an away game against Hull City.
The approach, said Buxton, will stay the same.
“I’ve said before, if we get ourselves in a rut, it’s my job to get us out of that rut, to try to be positive, to encourage the boys rather than get on their backs,” he added.