Dyer does all the damage
BURTON grabbed a precious three points on the road against fellow strugglers Bolton to give their chances of beating the drop a shot in the arm.
Lloyd Dyer’s first-half strike was enough for the Brewers to win only their second game out of the last 14 league fixtures.
And first-team coach Andy Garner challenged the Brewers to replicate the victory at the Pirelli Stadium where they have lost their last seven successive games.
“This year we’re doing well away from home and picking points up and we’ve had nothing at home. That’s down to us again,” he said.
“We’ve lost seven now at home, but we know as well that’s got to change and we’ve got to make it change. We’ve got to try and get a result at home and stop this losing streak.
“I said before the game we didn’t want to lose, that is for sure, but we also said at halftime that there’s a chance here to win a football match if you want to.
“I thought man for man, they were absolutely superb.”
Stephen Bywater parried Will Buckley’s curling effort out of harm’s way in the opening minute, while John Brayford’s challenge as Gary Madine pulled the trigger kept danger at bay.
Veteran Burton winger Dyer got the better of Stephen Darby but Lucas Akins headed the sixth-minute cross into Ben Alnwick’s arms.
Buckley fired into the ground which Bywater collected while former Bolton striker Marvin Sordell fed in Dyer before 20 minutes and the winger’s powerful strike was parried to safety by Alnwick.
Dyer broke the deadlock with a sweetly struck 23rd-minute volley from outside the area which bounced through a crowded box and past Alnwick.
The Brewers could have added a second on 35 minutes when Akins headed on Brayford’s right-wing cross and Ben Turner at the back post stabbed wide.
After the break, David Wheater thought he had levelled after his powerful header bounced off the bar’s underside from Josh Vela’s 50th-minute corner and Bywater saved Darren Pratley’s follow up.
Sammy Ameobi’s teasing 55th-minute cross was headed over by Buckley, while the former Newcastle man fizzed a 63rd-minute effort inches wide after combining with Madine.
Ameobi tested Bywater with a low drive 13 minutes before fulltime while at the other end moments later, Sordell ghosted past Mark Beevers before drilling into the side netting. A free-kick, two corners and a barrage of crosses were launched into the Burton area in stoppage time but the Brewers survived the late siege.
And Trotters boss Phil Parkinson felt the loss was a missed opportunity for Bolton as they slipped back into the drop zone.
“We’ve been a lot better at home recently and this is a blow for us because of all the games we’ve had at home, this is the one we’ve probably expected to win more than any of them, but we haven’t been able to do that,” he said. “We’ve just got to regroup and get back on the training pitch this week and make sure we’re ready for what is a great game for us at home to Cardiff next week.
“I still feel we’ve had enough half-chances to get back in the game and we just lacked that moment of quality.”