Referee steps in to save Brewers
FURIOUS Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink described this Burton Albion performance as rubbish after their 2-1 win over Peterborough United.
The Brewers raced into a two-goal lead thanks to strikes from Nasser El Khayati and Stuart Beavon either side of half-time.
But Albion switched off and were left desperately hanging on after Marcus Maddison pulled a goal back, before Jermaine Anderson’s 97th-minute goal was chalked off for a foul for ten-men Posh.
“It was rubbish, the first half was rubbish and the second half was even worse,” said Hasselbaink.
“I am happy with the points, but not with how we played.
“At 2-0 up we got complacent and thought it was going to be easy.We were very sloppy and I am not happy with the dynamic of the team.
“We can be so much better than that and I am very disappointed.
“We did not play the way we can do, we did not close the game out in the way we should have done.We did not play the Burton Albion way.”
Peterborough boss Dave Robertson accused the officials of costing his side two points by getting the injury-time decision wrong.
“Anderson has struck the ball well and, in my opinion, there was no contact and no pulling and the goal should have stood,” he said. “The lads have responded superbly to going a man down and we threw everything we had at them in the closing stages. The video footage shows that it was a legitimate goal and I am bitterly disappointed.
“I have asked my players to play with more energy and desire to win at 0-0.We cannot just turn the spark on after 60 minutes. They are a good group of players with quality, but they need to discover the winning mentality.”
Burton started the brightest with Damien McCrory, Mark Duffy and Beavon all forcing saves from Ben Alnwick in the opening half hour.
The Brewers’ pressure finally told as they went ahead on 36 minutes when El Khayati smashed home his third goal in two games.
Burton, who have won three out of their first four games, doubled their lead on 54 minutes when Beavon pounced on a rebound after Duffy's shot had been parried.
The visitors were given a mountain to climb when Gabriel Zakuani was red carded for a lunge on Timmy Thiele three minutes later.
But Maddison’s 30-yard screamer into the top corner gave Posh an unlikely lifeline.
Coulibaly nearly levelled on 77 minutes, before Jermaine Anderson fired wide in the first of seven minutes of injury time. Jon Taylor hit the post seconds before Anderson’s late goal was ruled out for shirt-pulling.