NEW BOY MASON IS NO AVERAGE JOE
JOE Mason’s instinctive finish within a minute of coming on for his debut earned Burton Albion a deserved draw against Sheffield Wednesday.
Nigel Clough was delighted with the impact of his new signing, who only arrived on loan from Wolves on Wednesday.
“It’s nice having a goalscorer on the bench. He’s someone you can bring on and you know he’s capable of getting you a goal,” said Clough.
“It’s pure instinct. I thought his finish was something nobody can teach or coach. You’ve got to know where the goal is in that situation.”
That sort of clinical touch was missing in the first half as the industrious home side started well but spurned several chances.
They should have taken the lead after five minutes when a ball in from Damien McCrory was headed narrowly wide by Marvin Sordell with the entire goal to aim for. He also engineered a chance for himself but struck tamely at Keiren Westwood.
There was a six-minute delay for treatment in the first half as Sordell later caught Westwood when trying to charge down the keeper’s clearance. He initially looked to continue but was soon replaced by Joe Wildsmith.
The challenge left manager Carlos Carvalhal frustrated and feeling a red card should have been shown. “It was a kick and something happened, I think,” he said.
“If something happened then there are ways to deal with the situation. That’s my opinion and I must respect the opinion of the referee.”
Although Burton had made more of the running, Sheffield Wednesday went in front on 34 minutes. A counter attack was started and finished by Gary Hooper, with a clever back heel from Jack Hunt’s low cross.
The Brewers immediately looked to force an equaliser. Sordell twice had shots from inside the area blocked by sliding defenders before Wednesday had the ball in the net again.
Hooper delayed his pass through to Adam Reach down the left, whose low cross was turned in by George Boyd but the celebrations were cut short by a flag raised on the far side.
Wednesday started brightly in the second half but it was Burton who came closest to scoring, with Sean Scannell cutting in from the right and forcing Wildsmith into a save at his near post.
The equaliser arrived shortly afterwards as Scannell was replaced by Mason. He immediately provided the cutting edge that had previously been missing, swivelling to smash a loose ball into the corner.
Wednesday almost regained the lead as Daniel Pudil’s header was cleared off the line. Burton held out and were the happier of the two sides at the final whistle.
“It was a clear two points lost in my opinion,” said Carvahal. “It was a compact, solid, professional performance. We did exactly what we did at Fulham but we should have had more goals. We should have had another one.”
In contrast, Burton’s mood was far brighter as they went into the international break on the back of another positive performance.
“The players are tired but buzzing,” said Clough. “When you go into the break on a loss it affects the whole two weeks.
“Everyone goes into it on a downer. To go into it on a thre- game unbeaten run, and with the Man Utd game to look forward to in a few weeks, everyone’s on a real high. And so they should be.”