MIXED FEELINGS FOR CIARAN AS HE STEPS UP TO PLATE
DEFEATS for Burton Albion come with mixed feelings for Ciaran Gilligan as he makes his way in professional football.
The 18-year-old midfielder would obviously rather not be on the losing side but he is relishing the chance of more game time than he would have expected to get at the start of the season.
Gilligan’s busy efforts, harrying the opposition and aiming to win the ball and get Burton moving, have led to him making 11 appearances this season.
He is the first player to come through the Brewers’ ranks right from under-eight to the first team and, therefore, a source of great pride to the academy staff at the club.
Gilligan was given a chance in the first two EFL Trophy games of the season and made second-half substitute appearances in the Carabao Cup against Aston Villa and in League One against Swindon Town before being handed his first League start away to Bristol Rovers in October.
Bookings in three successive games indicated that he is prepared to put himself about, despite appearing a slight figure.
“I’m absolutely loving it, even though the results aren’t what I want or what the team want,” said Gilligan.
“But the fact I’m playing professional football with good teammates who are helping me, I can still look on the bright side.
“There are parts to it that hurt, low points, but I’m still enjoying it.”
Gilligan had to get through a lot of running in midfield once Burton were down to 10 men away to Hull City at the weekend and though they made a good fight of it for an hour, they eventually fell to a 2-0 defeat – their 13th game without a win.
“I thought we started the game really well,” said Gilligan.
“We were winning second balls, all of them.
“And then we went down to 10 men (with Sam Hughes’ 18th-minute sending off), which was gutting and it completely changed the game.
“We did well to get to half-time at 0-0 and it looked promising from there but then the goal killed us, to be fair.”
Hull took the lead in the 62nd minute when Burton failed to fully clear a free kick and Mallik Wilks scored from 12 yards with a neat shot over a crowd of bodies.
“You know that when you are down to 10 men you will have very few attacks but we stuck at it for the whole game,” said Gilligan.
“We didn’t fold – but, ultimately, it’s another loss and we’re not happy about that. That’s what matters in the end.
“The gaffer said before the game that we were not going to allow our excuses to decide the game and we didn’t do that.
“We didn’t let Sam being sent off change what we were trying to do, nor when Kane Hemming pulled out (in the warm-up). We reacted quickly to that.”
Gilligan maintains there are still positives for the Brewers to focus on, even though they need to start adding better results to go with them.
“Our shape, the way we still got about people – yes, there were positives but we need to start picking up points,” he added.
“I think if we keep doing the right things, which we definitely are, then we will start to pick them up, no doubt about that.”