Away run ends as Albion finish on a flat note
BREWERS HAVE NO ANSWER AS U’S SECURE A PLAY-OFF PLACE
BURTON Albion’s unbeaten record away from home under Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink was ended on the last day of the season when Oxford United’s 4-0 win secured them a League One play-off place.
There was not a lot the Brewers could do to stop a hugely committed Oxford performance on the day but it was still a disappointingly flat finish to Burton’s invigorating second half of the season.
Hasselbaink made one change, giving on-loan goalkeeper Dillon Barnes his first game since joining the club in January, Barnes’ potential debut having been delayed by an ankle injury and the form of regular number one Ben Garratt.
Tom Hamer followed up his own header to threaten for Burton in the fifth minute and it led to his first chance to launch a long throw, which was cleared for a corner.
A move to work that short for Joe Powell to shoot broke down but, soon, Powell won another corner on the right as the Brewers made a determined start.
However, Oxford broke quickly to take a ninth-minute lead.
They passed the ball efficiently in the build-up and Sam Long’s driven cross from the right was headed in powerfully from six yards by Olamide Shodipo.
Terry Taylor’s impassioned plea that he had been fouled in the buildup did him no good.
A minute later, as Josh Ruffels broke for Oxford on the left, Michael Mancienne went to drag him down, missed, but was booked for his intent.
Now the Brewers needed to settle as Oxford began to pour forward and they were forced to concede a 17thminute corner when Matt Sykes crossed dangerously from the left.
James Henry volleyed over from 20 yards after another swift attack by the home side.
Ruffels got his head to a free kick from the right after 22 minutes but the ball looped comfortably for Barnes to catch it under his bar.
Burton were coming back into it, however, and Powell had a shot blocked from Mike Fondop’s lay-off.
After another long throw from Hamer, Danny Rowe volleyed off target from 25 yards and, although nothing was resulting from Hamer’s throws, he was getting plenty of opportunities. His eighth throw, in the 27th minute, almost gave Fondop a chance to shoot.
But Oxford went two up a minute later. A long ball forward was well controlled by Matty Taylor, a Shodipo shot was blocked, and Michael Mancienne’s header, straight up in the air, was pounced by Taylor to head past Barnes from six yards.
It was poor defending, for once, by Burton and with Portsmouth losing to Accrington Stanley at this stage, Oxford were looking good for a playoff place.
There might have been a third goal when Matty Taylor and Elliot Lee combined on the left but Lee miscued a shot wide as he stretched.
After 39 minutes, Lucas Akins crossed from the left, Fondop headed the ball down and Taylor had two attempts blocked by goalkeeper Jack Stevens, although the whistle also went for a free kick to Oxford.
Oxford’s greater control going forward and willingness to rush the Brewers had been the difference between the two sides at half-time.
Rowe started the second half on the left, with Akins having moved more central and they began the half with Josh Earl winning a corner on the left, which came to nothing.
Henry dispossessed Terry Taylor in the 48th minute and raced forward before firing wide when he had Matty Taylor unmarked to his left.
Oxford, as well they might, looked content to take a long time about everything early in the second half and Hasselbaink prepared his first changes.
Before he could make them, Oxford went 3-0 up in the 57th minute.
Terry Taylor was booked for a sliding challenge on Lee and was punished doubly for it when Lee’s low free kick sneaked in at Barnes’ near post when the keeper fumbled it.
Kane Hemmings and Ryan Broom replaced Fondop and Powell before the game restarted and a third change soon followed as Ciaran Gilligan was brought on for Terry Taylor, who had struggled.
Oxford right-back Long went off with a hamstring injury after 66 minutes, knowing his participation in the play-offs was unlikely, to be replaced by former Derby County midfielder Jamie Hanson.
Rowe, breaking down the left, saw a deep cross clip the bar on its way out of play but it had not looked like dropping into the net.
The game had become both tetchy and messy by now, with even Akins angered by something and he was replaced by Josh Parker for the last 15 minutes.
Good work by Gilligan led to Rowe winning a corner on the left but, like everything before it for Burton, this came to nothing.
In stoppage time, a long clearance bounced and dropped kindly for Winnall, who scored with a superb volley over Barnes from 25 yards.