Lights out but there’s no dimming Burton fire

A POWER surge in the Burton area caused a triple floodlight failure and major disruption before the League One side knocked out Premier League Bournemouth. To be honest, it was probably the most effective way to conceal a lacklustre Cherries performance both before and after the lights went out. The Pirelli Stadium was plunged into darkness due to local power issues seven minutes into the second-half, with Burton leading 1-0. The players were off for 10 minutes and could only resume for two before the lights went again. They had just resumed when a third outage struck and it appeared referee John Busby had called the whole thing off. However, play resumed with 28 minutes left and last season’s semi-finalists Burton completed another giant-killing. ‘I was delighted we got them back on and got the game finished,’ said Burton boss Nigel Clough. ‘Bournemouth were desperate to play, they didn’t want to come back next week.’ The farce should not detract from an excellent Burton display. They led on 15 minutes through Oliver Sarkic’s perfectly-placed volley and could have killed the game by half-time. Bournemouth had made 10 changes and went two down on 72 minutes when Sarkic turned provider for Nathan Broadhead to seal a home fourth round tie against Leicester. ‘This is a new one for me but we’re not using it as an excuse,’ said Bournemouth boss Eddie Howe. ‘It’s an opportunity missed and we’re kicking ourselves.’