PARKER IS EXPECTED EXIT FOR BREWERS
WINDOW OR NO WINDOW, HERE ARE FIVE BIG PLUSES
WHATEVER the final results of Burton Albion’s moves in the transfer window – and beyond, since free agents will not be ruled out after that – there are plenty of positives in what we have seen from the Brewers so far in the new League One campaign.
Albion have been hit by a string of injuries and had 10 first team squad members out once Michael Mancienne joined the list after only a few minutes of Friday night’s 1-1 draw at home to Cheltenham Town.
Yet they have also taken 10 points from five matches, an excellent average which would have them in the promotion places at the end of the season if it was continued.
It is too soon for talk like that, of course. Five other clubs have the same record and a sixth, Sunderland, are two points ahead of that.
But it is a good enough start and some of the individual positives are heartening. Here are five players whose efforts so far have stood out.
BEN GARRATT
The goalkeeper has looked ever more solid after, initially at least, holding off the challenge of on-loan Brentford keeper Ellery Balcombe – just as he saw off the challenge of Kieran O’Hara last season.
There was nothing Garratt could do about the three goals conceded away to Cambridge United, two own goals and a fierce deflection. Nor could he do anything about Ipswich Town’s goal, initially given as an own goal by Tom O’Connor and now, apparently, being credited to striker Joe Pigott. If Pigott did get the touch, he would have a job claiming he meant where the ball went.
Garratt was quite brilliant against Sunderland, keeping them at bay with a string of saves, not that the Brewers were without chances at the other end. Burton won with Jonny Smith’s brilliant goal but Garratt
earned them the points.
LUCAS AKINS
Akins just keeps on doing what he does. We can only wonder if, for the first time almost since he arrived at the club, Akins may have struggled to get in the starting line-up if all of the Brewers forwards had been fit from the start. They were not, however, and his remarkable appearance record goes on and on.
His equaliser against Cheltenham Town was better than it looked, a far from routine finish. Smith’s cross was missed by Aaron Amadi-Holloway – as well as the Cheltenham defenders – and then reared up off the turf.
Akins, at the far post can only have concentrated on what the ball was doing and he took an athletic leap to get over a ball which wasn’t naturally arriving on his head and direct it under the bar. It would have been an easy one to miss and Burton may well have lost if he had.
Add to that an apparently nerveless penalty for the late winner
Akins looks as valuable to Albion now as has done ever since he first walked through the door.
against Ipswich four days after he had missed one in the shoot-out against Oxford United.
Akins looks as valuable to Albion now as he has done ever since he first walked through the door.
JONNY SMITH
It is a winger’s lot that they can find themselves in games when the ball does not come their way as often as they would like, or games when it does and what they try to do with it does not come off.
Smith has not dominated in all of the games so far but his work-rate and willingness to go again is in place. He is getting back to help out his full-backs and, when the chance arises, he is looking dangerous as the Brewers’ go-to man going forward. His winner against Sunderland, unerringly lashed into the top corner of the net first time when the ball arrived on the right side of the penalty area showed superb technique.
He ran himself almost to a standstill against Cheltenham and the equaliser came about because of his determination.
Chris Hussey had him boxed in near the corner flag but Smith first escaped then made enough space to whip in a superb cross which Akins headed in.
TOM O’CONNOR
Fingers crossed that O’Connor’s hamstring injury, picked up against Cambridge, is not serious. So assured and competent were his
performances in the holding midfield role, first alongside Deji Oshilaja, then Michael Mancienne that it was slightly surprising to be reminded that he only turned 22 earlier this year and is, therefore, another of Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink’s collection of promising young players.
His two seasons of regular senior football for Gillingham before joining Burton upon his release from Southampton had largely been played in central defence but he looks a natural midfielder, combative and calm in equal measures.
Bryn Morris and Cameron Borthwick-Jackson have both looked decent in the position since O’Connor’s injury but with all respect to them, the Brewers have looked better with him playing.
RYAN LEAK
The surprise signing of the summer, Leak, the Burton-born lad who appeared as if from nowhere, seems to have solved a problem for Hasselbaink. He and Connor Shaughnessy have formed an excellent central-defensive partnership when neither might have been part of the first-choice pairing before the season.
Hasselbaink admitted he had asked about the possible return of Hayden Carter on loan before the season but Carter has got into the
Blackburn Rovers first team at right-back for now and that is not likely to happen.
Injuries mean that the manager’s priority was to look to add attacking players with the transfer window running out: Leak’s form has meant that he could rest easier about the defence, in which he still has Michael Bostwick to return after an injury and a period of isolation owing to Covid. Leak has looked the part in his first senior matches in the Football League.
AN early move on the last day of the transfer window yesterday was the not unexpected departure of forward Josh Parker from Burton Albion.
The club said the forward, whose contract ran until the summer, had been released by mutual consent.
He had not featured so far this season and made only six appearances, three of them starts, after signing an 18-month deal in January, his most memorable contribution being a superb pass to set up Jonny Smith for a late winner against Hull City.
“Josh came in when we were at the bottom of the table and helped us to stay in the division last season,” said Hasselbaink.
“We thank him for his efforts with us and we wish him all the best for the future.”