Clough so proud of 10-man Brewers

BURTON ALBION 0

BURTON ALBION: Collins 8, Clarke 7, Brayford 5, McFadzean 7, Daniel 7, Allen 5 (Buxton 13, 6), Quinn 7, Fraser 7 (Wallace 90, 6), Akins 7, Boyce 7, Templeton 6 (Harness 68, 6). Subs not used: Bywater, Sbarra, Miller, Hutchinson.

OXFORD UNITED 0

OXFORD UNITED: Eastwood 7, Hanson 7, Nelson 8, Dickie 8, Ruffels 8, Mousinho 6 (Mackie 45, 7), Brannagan 8, Whyte 7, Henry 7, Graham 7, Sinclair 8 (Carruthers 78, 6). Subs not used: Garbutt, Long, Sykes, Stevens, Kashi.

Att: 3,197 Rating: ★★★★★ Ref: Brett Huxtable 6/10

NIGEL CLOUGH was by far the happier manager at the Pirelli Stadium after seeing his 10-man Burton side repel Oxford United for 78 minutes and come away with a hardearned point.

Albion made it just one defeat in eight with a rare clean sheet, but had goalkeeper Brad Collins to thank for three good saves.

The Brewers were reduced to 10 men as early as the 12th minute when John Brayford was lured into a tug on Oxford’s deadline day signing Jerome Sinclair as he threatened to race into the box from Cameron Brannagan’s chip into the channel.

“The sending off makes it difficult for us to win the game, but it is magnificent to get a clean sheet and something from it” said Clough.

“We have no complaints. John Brayford shouldn’t touch him. You take your chances that if he goes through and scores we have still got around 80 minutes to get back into the game. You don’t pull him down and the referee had no choice.”

Clough was delighted with the reaction of his side.

“I am unbelievably pleased with how they coped” he said.

Oxford boss Karl Robinson was left to rue missed opportunities as his side squandered a great chance to end their winless away run in the league. A 10th draw on the road tells its own story, but this was a great chance for that elusive win.

“We huffed and puffed with our chances.” Robinson said. “Their goalkeeper has made some really good saves in the second half and we created some good chances in the first half. The effort was there and the crosses were there. We just didn’t take our opportunities when the came along.”

Oxford, understandably, dominated the game with both Sinclair and Rob Dickie blazing efforts over the bar after leading scorer had tested Collins as early as the first minute.

Half-time substitute Jamie Mackie forced a good save from Collins after 52 minutes as the visitors looked for the breakthrough and Josh Ruffels was denied by an acrobatic save from the on-loan Chelsea goalkeeper.

Oxford’s best chance fell to defender Curtis Nelson in stoppage time, but the defender was again frustrated by an excellent save by Collins.