Brewers stay the distance to keep on the up
THREE wins in four, each with a clean sheet. Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink’s Burton Albion rescue mission is gathering momentum after Northampton Town were beaten 2-0 on their own patch.
The result put them only two points behind a cluster of four teams above them, with games in hand on two of them.
Among those are Northampton and this game looked like being the Brewers’ third 1-0 win under the new manager until Ryan Edwards ran two thirds of the length of the pitch to score the second goal deep into stoppage time.
In doing so, the effervescent Australian midfielder demonstrated one reason why these results are happening.
Burton are getting better at outlasting their opponents and that, you have to conclude, will have something to do with Hasselbaink’s intense training demands.
And yet, like most matches, this one could have gone either way.
Pumped up by caretaker manager and long-time club stalwart Jon Brady after Keith Curle’s sacking, the Cobblers were much the better side for the first 20 minutes, during which the Brewers looked like what they actually are – a bunch of players who have not worked together for very long.
They had snapped straight into looking like a team against Hull City a week before. Here, they looked for a while like the nervous, hesitant team who have conceded early goals too readily for much of the season.
They had an escape in the second minute when Mark Marshall sent in a free kick from the left wing that was touched past Ben Garratt by Lloyd Jones but an offside flag cut short the Northampton celebrations. It was a close call.
After seven minutes, there was too much space on the edge of the box for Sam Hoskins to tee up Ryan Watson for a fierce shot which crashed off the bar.
Hoskins volleyed over from the edge of the box after 14 minutes and the Brewers badly needed to calm the game down.
They did. The Cobblers’ initial fire burned out and it was Burton who won the first corner, after 22 minutes.
Josh Parker is the new first choice to take them and a good delivery to the far post was reaching John Brayford until Joseph Mills dived to head the ball out for another corner.
When Josh Earl made a strong run forward from left-back three minutes later and was fouled 25 yards out, Parker hit the outside of goalkeeper Jonathan Mitchell’s righthand post with the free kick. It did not look like the on-loan Derby County keeper was getting to it.
Good work by Sean Clare, who has brought a real competitive edge to Burton’s midfield, gave Lucas Akins a chance after half an hour but he dragged a tame shot wide.
The Brewers ended the first half on top but Northampton again had the early chances in the second half.
Watson fired comfortably over from 25 yards but Garratt was forced into his only save after 55 minutes, a good one, as Danny Rose reached Marshall’s cross from the right with a solid header, the keeper getting down sharply to his left to parry it.
Rose, as he fell, got a toe to the rebound but rolled the ball into the sidenetting.
With Northampton looking the more likely side to find a breakthrough, Hasselbaink sent on Joe Powell for Ryan Broom after 68 minutes.
Broom never really got into this game and has yet to make an impact from two starts.
Last week’s hero, Jonny Smith, was also well policed by the opposition this time but he cut in from the right to hit a shot that Mitchell dealt with comfortably after 72 minutes.
Parker and Clare had a brief but fierce exchange of words about their roles as Burton were forced to defend again for a spell – a clear indication that what they are trying to do matters to both.
But it was Burton who finally broke through, in unusual circumstances.
If Cian Bolger was not trying to find Mitchell with a toe-poked ball across his own box, it was a strange place for him to be sending the ball but the keeper had plenty of time to have chested it down and kicked it away.
Instead, he caught it and referee Scott Oldham deemed Bolger’s touch a back-pass, giving the Brewers a free kick 10 yards out, to the left of the penalty spot.
The theory was simple: who in the team is likely to smash it hardest? That was Michael Bostwick, after Clare touched it to him.
The whole Northampton team were on the line and, the first time, they rushed too early. If Bostwick noted which defender had left a gap that time, it was good thinking because that was where he hammered the ball and in it went for the big defender’s first goal for the club.
Burton had longer to see out the game than they had against Hull but, once again, they did so without alarm, which is a pleasing development.
And then, deep into stoppage time, came a bonus.
With Northampton throwing everyone forward, Edwards picked up a clearance 10 yards outside own penalty area and set off.
The man who is regularly recorded as running further than anyone else in a game is not the one a tired defender wants to try to catch after 90-plus minutes and he skinned the only one who got close, Bryn Morris.
He initially headed for the corner flag before realising the goal was an option, cutting inside and slipping the ball past Mitchell.
As icing on the cake goes, it was pretty sweet, especially for a player who is thriving again under Hasselbaink.
But then, so are almost all of his team-mates right now.