Warnings were not heeded by players, says Nigel

NIGEL Clough says Burton Albion crossed “the fine line between confidence and complacency” in the first half of their FA Cup defeat at Scunthorpe United.

The Brewers headed into the meeting with their League One rivals on the back of arguably their most impressive display of the season in victory over Walsall a week before.

But the intensity, accuracy and composure of that performance was lacking against the Iron, as two soft goals ensured Liam Boyce’s 79thminute strike was not enough to keep Burton in the hat for the second round, despite dominating the second half.

It left Clough to question whether his side had done “the horrible things” necessary to get past a Scunthorpe side who had lost five of their previous six outings.

“That’s what we have been warning against all week,” he said when asked about the drop-off between the Walsall win and the loss at Glanford Park.

“The last words we said to the players before they went out before the game were that it’s a very fine line between confidence and complacency.

“We pointed out to them that if you do not do the work and do all the horrible things that you have to do in football, win your tackles, win your headers, pass, move, sprint, actually sprint until it hurts, then we’re not a team.

“Scunthorpe battled but when you give somebody a two-goal lead, as we gave Rochdale and as we gave Peterborough United already this season, you can see their desire to hold on to it.

“We do that when we go ahead, we battle and scrap to hold on to it as well.

“It’s amazing the difference, when you do get that lead, in players’ attitudes.”

The result was Burton’s fifth successive defeat in the FA Cup, dating back to December 2013.

Since then, they have reached a League Two play-off final, won the fourth-tier title, earned promotion out of League One and spent two seasons in the Championship.

They are also preparing for a historic Carabao Cup quarter-final appearance next month.

So did the fact that it was the FA Cup have an impact on their performance?

“No, I don’t think it was the competition,” said Clough.

“I think a League game, whatever it’d had been today, the fine line between confidence and complacency was crossed in the first half.

“That was despite pointing out to them all week, ‘this is what made us good at Walsall, this is why we played so well, if you don’t do those things, you won’t put on the same performance,’

“But lesser players don’t understand that, despite being told and told. That’s what makes them lesser players.

“The best players at Manchester City, you don’t have to tell, they know they’ve got to do it, week in, week out and they know what they do well and what they don’t do well and what they have to improve on.

“Lesser players don’t get it, that’s why they are playing in League One.”

The fine line between confidence and complacency was crossed in the first half.

Nigel Clough