Albion on the right road with fourth away win in a row
HEMMINGS IS BACK WITH A GOAL AS BURTON MAKE IT FOUR AWAY WINS CLIMB OFF THE BOTTOM OF THE LEAGUE ONE TABLE
BURTON Albion have virtually established a template for escaping relegation under Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink and it was applied in full in a satisfyingly efficient 2-0 win away to Rochdale.
It was a fourth straight away win for the Brewers, during which they have conceded one goal, a fifth win in seven games overall since Hasselbaink took over and it lifted them from the bottom of League One for the first time this year.
Two more goals against Rochdale would have seen Albion out of the bottom four but let’s not be greedy; there are games in hand to achieve that.
They are the form team of the bottom half, a record of four wins in the last five games matches only by Blackpool – when they can get a game on – and topped only by new leaders Peterborough United.
Hasselbaink is having none of all this. There was a standing joke, in his first spell, that he did not have a table at his club flat because he does not look at tables.
He insisted before this game that there is not, yet, light at the end of the tunnel. He knows full well that there is but he does not want one player to think they have cracked this.
The mantra is about the process. Repeat the process. Repeat it again. The league table will look after itself.
The Rochdale game played out in very similar manner to the 2-0 win away to Northampton Town a fortnight previously.
Again, relegation rivals started well on their own patch, the Brewers weathered the storm and started to look stronger until they became the more likely side to score. Then they scored, then they added another to make sure.
It was never pretty, Lucas Akins’ lovely second goal apart, but it involved determined defending, prodigious amounts of work in midfield and taking the chance to run at tiring opponents at the other end when possible.
If any side has a midfielder who works as hard as Sean Clare and Ryan Edwards, he will be an asset. To have two at once is a massive bonus. As Kane Hemmings said afterwards: “I don’t know how they do it. I couldn’t.”
John Brayford and Danny Rowe, who both came off the bench in the midweek win against Charlton Athletic, started this time and Tom Hamer was preferred to Josh Earl, available again after suspension, at left-back, while Hemmings returned from his calf injury on the bench.
Rochdale fielded former Brewers loanee Conor Shaughnessy and the sight of the defender starting up front immediately suggested they are struggling for forward options.
Rochdale threatened in the first couple of minutes when Matty Done cut inside from the right for a shot which Ben Garratt blocked with his legs before Burton scrambled two more efforts away.
There was a similar scramble at the other end when Rowe won the first corner of the game and delivered it into the middle before a fiveminute stoppage when Hamer and Ryan Mclaughlin needed treatment after a clash of heads.
Jonny Smith had a sight of goal after 28 minutes, cutting in from the right, keeper Gavin Bazunu pushing his shot away at full stretch before dropping more comfortably on Sean Clare’s follow-up.
The game became very scrappy but with Bostwick and Hayden Carter unflappable, Rochdale were no longer getting close and Burton had two good chances before the break.
When a free kick from Rowe was half-cleared, Hamer hit a volley from 20 yards which Bazunu dived to turn over the bar.
Then, in the first of six minutes of stoppage time, Brayford darted forward to intercept a loose pass and laid the ball back for Clare, who was tripped right on the edge of the box.
Bostwick went for power but his free kick was blocked by the Rochdale wall.
Edwards intercepted a poor pass to send Smith away on the right in the 51st minute but his shot was blocked and, in the earty stages of the second half, both sides still struggled to put any passes together.
From a Hamer long throw, the ball dropped to Michael Fondop but he could get no power behind his shot.
After 54 minutes, he had a better chance, sent running at the defence by a good flick from Rowe, but he dragged his shot across goal and wide from the inside left channel.
It had not, however, been Fondop’s day this time. He was policed better than Charlton’s defenders had managed and it made sense to try a different approach, Hemmings replacing him after 56 minutes, with Joe Powell also replacing Rowe.
Hemmings had a good chance after 61 minutes, Akins getting in behind the defence on a pass from Powell on the left and laying the ball back but the striker’s flicked effort looped over the bar.
Hemmings did not have to wait
long, though, to score a trademark poacher’s goal, a first reward for the Brewers from Hamer’s prodigious long throws.
He delivered one from the right, Bostwick, who is going up for them all as if for a corner or free kick, won the flick on and Hemmings was alert to guide the ball in from six yards.
Rochdale were notably deflated and a rash moment of frustration saw them down to 10 men after 77 minutes when Oliver Rathbone and Smith clashed.
Smith, making ground down the right, fouled the Rochdale man, who got up to put his head in Smith’s face right in front of referee Marc Edwards and was sent off.
The red card was coming out of Edwards’ pocket before Smith clutched his face and fell and you would rather hope Hasselbaink has a word and tells the winger he does not want to see such play-acting.
There was icing on the cake for the Brewers with four minutes left, when Smith burst forward and picked out Akins on the edge of the box.
Smith’s continued run distracted Mclaughlin and Akins moved the ball on to his right foot and curled a delightful shot to Bazunu’s left to settle the points.
An escape from the bottom four is possible tomorrow night, at home to Bristol Rovers, but remember – don’t look at the table.
IN A ROW UNDER HASSELBAINK AND