A setback for Hasselbaink as Tractor Boys hoodoo strikes
IF anyone thought the return of Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink would magically transform Burton Albion’s season, the reality was presented in a soggy chunk at the Pirelli Stadium on Saturday as Ipswich Town went home with a 1-0 win.
A scrappy game on a saturated pitch had 0-0 written all over it, with neither side able to find any fluency, but one deflected cross and the header it presented to Ipswich rightback Mark McGuinness settled the contest.
What is it about Ipswich? They have now won seven of the eight meetings between the sides, the other finishing goalless, and looked good value for only one, the 4-1 thumping towards the end of last season. If you believe in bogey sides, the Tractor Boys are nailed on as Burton’s.
Such statistics, of course, mean nothing to Hasselbaink as he wrestles with tweaking the squad sufficiently and quickly enough to give them a chance of escaping relegation.
On the evidence of the two games so far, he has made the Brewers more solid and organised, for sure, but against Ipswich, there was worryingly little threat going forward, for all the solid endeavour.
In a needs-must situation, there is no more playing it out from the back, with balls often being launched towards Lucas Akins and the attack taking it from there.
The two changes made from the Gillingham win were forced upon Hasselbaink, with Colin Daniel and Kieran Wallace said to have sustained knocks but they might have been made anyway, the manager giving himsef a look at Charles Vernam and Ciaran Gilligan, while this week’s two new signings, Josh Parker and Sean Clare, began on the bench.
The Brewers were disrupted after only seven minutes when John-Joe O’Toole went down with a leg injury off the ball and tried but failed to continue, being replaced by Michael Bostwick.
Two booming defensive headers from Bostwick and two fierce, fair challenges from Gilligan to clear danger demonstrated Burton’s determination but neither side found any first-half fluency. Vernam promised, as he does, with a couple of runs on the left but might have released the ball sooner both times.
The first sniff either side had came after 39 minutes when Toto Nsiala got his head to an Andre Dozzell corner in a crowd of players but the ball skimmed harmlessly wide. Burton had their best chance of the game a minute before the break and how that might have changed the game if they had scored.
An inventive chip over the defence by Joe Powell sent Ryan Edwards scurrying down the right.
He seemed to be running out of room but fashioned a cross which kissed the top of the bar and fell for Vernam just beyond the far post.
It looked as if he must score but Luke Chambers threw himself in front of Vernam’s volley, sending it out for a corner. It was brilliant work by the Ipswich captain.
As the second half continued in much the same vein, Ipswich began to see more of the ball after an initial urgent flurry from Burton and it took a fine clearance from Hayden Carter to send an Alan Judge cross away from danger.
The young on-loan centre-half looked calm and decisive on his home debut.
Lucas Akins had a sniff of a chance after an hour, latching on to a loose ball in the box and carrying it wide of goalkeeper Thomas Holy, who had hesitated, but the angle became too narrow for Akins and Holy recovered to block his shot out for a corner.
For the second time in the game, John Brayford felt he was taken out as he attempted to reach Powell’s corner at the far post and, this time, he was booked for a vehement protest.
Vernam again threatened with a cross from the left which evaded everyone until it fell for Brayford outside the box but, with a clear sight, his shot sailed high and wide.
At the other end, substitute Aaron Drinan, on for the cantankerous James Norwood, looped a header which hit the top of Ben Garratt’s bar after 71 minutes.
The Brewers are more solid and organised but there was little threat going forward, for all the endeavour
The goal came two minutes later and, while it emanated from a setpiece, so often one of the thorns in Burton’s side this season, there was an element of misfortune.
Ipswich played a free kick on the left short and Judge’s cross deflected high towards the far post, wrongfooting the defence but falling on to the head of McGuinness, who planted a solid header past Garrett from eight yards.
Such was the deflection, it would be harsh to blame the defenders for this one.
It was nearly two a couple of minutes later but Garratt reacted well to keep Drinan’s header out.
Hasselbaink gave Parker and Clare their debuts, in place of Powell and Vernam, with 15 minutes left and both showed enough good touches to suggest they will be assets.
It also looks as if both will offer an option to Powell as the deliverer of set-pieces and although nothing came of it, one free kick sent in by Parker from the left certainly hit the right area.
Parker also had a decent chance, Akins doing brilliantly on the byeline before cutting the ball back but the new man’s snatched shot went over.
In the end, the biggest problem Holy had to deal with was a sliced clearance by Nsiala from Owen Gallacher’s cross which headed goalwards but the keeper was able to drop on it comfortably enough.
Gallacher had been excellent at left-back and it was a concern when a nasty late challenge from Drinan, for which he might have seen more than a yellow card, forced the Burton man off with five minutes left.
It led to the Brewers going three at the back, after Indiana Vassilev came on, but time ran out and Hasselbaink now has 10 days to work with his squad before Shrewsbury Town, who will hopefully have shaken off a Covid-19 outbreak by then, are due at the Pirelli.