Why Boyce was central to victory over Shrews
NIGEL Clough says the time was right to put Liam Boyce back at the top of Burton Albion’s attack in Saturday’s win over Shrewsbury Town.
Boyce had been playing on the left of Albion’s front three over recent weeks, with Wigan Athletic loanee Devante Cole leading the line.
That approach worked to great effect in last month’s 3-1 win at Walsall, when Cole scored and Boyce won and missed an early penalty, but the Northern Ireland international was more of a peripheral figure in the back-to-back losses against Blackpool and Charlton Athletic at the end of November.
A return to the centre-forward position saw Boyce grab his first League goal in more than two months at the weekend, as he charged down Steve Arnold’s attempted clearance for an early Burton opener.
And while Clough says the 27-year-old is not yet back to the form that saw him grab seven goals in the first 12 matches of the campaign, he believes he is “getting there”.
“He’s had a good little spell out wide, he did OK initially then dipped in the last couple of games,” said the Albion manager.
“You can do it for a few games and it gives you a bit of a lift or a little bit of something different.
“But then you want to get back in your normal position – and he got himself a goal.
“I thought he battled all game.
“We made the decision to put him back up top, which meant we had to leave Devante Cole out.
“He held the ball up for us, he won headers. He’s not quite back up to 100% but he’s getting there.
“I think he also got kicked from pillar to post on Saturday.
“There were a lot of challenges going in and an awful lot of free kicks given throughout the game, most in our favour.”
Boyce’s ninth goal of the season in the victory over Shrewsbury was certainly his most bizarre.
Mat Sadler’s weak back pass allowed the ex-Ross County man the time to put maximum pressure on Arnold’s clearance and while Boyce knew little about it, his block flew on target.
But like the win as a whole in difficult conditions, Clough believes that moment was hard-earned.
“You get a start like that after a few minutes and it gives everybody a lift,” he said.
“It has an element of luck to it but you deserve that, if you go and close a goalkeeper down with the genuine intent that you’re going to get the ball or get a block in, not just put a shirt there half-heartedly.
“He didn’t do that. From the second it was on its way back, he chased the goalkeeper down.
“Maybe that’s the second piece of luck we’ve had in six months, so we’ve certainly been due some.”