Points shared again but still positives for Albion to take
A GAME that could have gone either way right to the end finished 1-1 against Gillingham – a third successive League One draw for Burton Albion.
How do you evaluate three draws in a row? The Brewers are unbeaten in three but, throwing in the defeat to Cambridge United, have not now won in four.
We know this Burton team is, as Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink keeps reminding us, a work in progress. We know the Brewers still have a string of injuries which have forced the manager’s hand in selection and that a host of new signings are still bedding in.
Burton are handily placed in the table but the home draws, especially, inevitably leave the impression that two points have been lost in each.
That was certainly the case against a better Gillingham side than we have seen in a number of years, as uncompromising as any Steve Evans team but with more enterprise on the ball.
In Vadaine Oliver they have one of the best strikers in the division and, on this evidence, they are getting a new lease of life out of winger Mustapha Carayol, a man who has been around so long that he was on the bench for Torquay United the day Burton were promoted to the Football League in 2009.
Hasselbaink made two changes to his starting line-up, giving first starts to Harry Chapman, replacing Joe Powell, and Frazer Blake-tracy, the latter coming in at left-back, with Tom Hamer moving to the right in place of suspended captain John Brayford. Loan signing Daniel Jebbison was on the bench.
Chapman, instantly lively, was fouled within 20 seconds and when he took the free kick short to Jonny Smith, his cross from the right only just cleared Tom Hamer at the back post.
Chapman raised the crowd after eight minutes with the first of a series of storming runs forward but spoiled it with an underhit pass to try to play Smith in on the right.
Soon, though, it was Gillingham who were getting on top, with Oliver beating Michael Bostwick in the air several times and Carayol giving Hamer probably his sternest test since joining Burton.
After 14 minutes, the Gambian winger cut in from the left and fired a shot which Ben Garratt saved with his legs.
A poor pass from Hamer then gave Charlie Kelman the chance to drive a dangerous ball across the six-yard box without anyone getting a touch.
The Gills took a deserved 18thminute lead. Cameron Borthwickjackson initially did well to twist his way out of a difficult spot in midfield but after one trick too many he was robbed and Kelman found Oliver in space on the edge of the box.
His control, turn and a sharp shot into the corner beyond Garratt’s right hand were exemplary.
After 23 minutes, Burton moved the ball well in a sustained attack for the first time in the game but it ended with Charlie Lakin shooting well over.
Carayol shot wide when a cross reached him in space after 26 minutes but Kane Hemmings ought to have equalised a minute later after another rousing run by Chapman.
He got the pass right this time but Hemmings, with the sort of chance he usually gobbles up, had his shot blocked by keeper Jamie Cumming.
Immediately, Carayol outpaced Hamer, no slouch, on a 60-yard run down the left which earned him a corner.
Lucas Akins, cutting inside from the left, chipped a shot off target before Chapman, again running directly at Gillingham, went down rather obviously looking for a penalty, which was not forthcoming.
It was breathless stuff and Kyle Dempsey went close with a curled shot from 20 yards before Smith’s cross led Conor Shaughnessy to head straight at Cumming.
The Brewers equalised instantly at the start of the second half when a Hamer long throw brought a reward for the first time this season.
Bostwick stooped to flick a nearpost header into the six-yard box and Hemmings reacted first to turn in his first goal of the season, a completely typical poacher’s effort from the striker.
Would it be the signal for Burton
to take over the contest? Not quite.
They were the better side in the second half without being able to shake off Gillingham but there was much promise in some of the football they produced.
A lovely ball from Blake-tracy found Borthwick-jackson making a good run forward before having a shot blocked and Max Ehmer had to give up a booking when Hemmings turned and escaped from him in space.
Still Gillingham were dangerous on the break and Garratt had to touch away a shot from Carayol, coming inside on the left.
With 20 minutes left, there was a buzz around the ground as Jebbison was given his first run-out, replacing Hemmings.
A disappointing shot from Lakin, in a good position, passed wide and Smith, given a chance after Chapman’s latest burst forward, hesitated before taking a shot that was too easy for Cumming.
Then a brilliant turn by Lakin, to escape pressure near his own box, allowed him to send Smith through again and a more decisive shot was deflected for a corner.
With time running out, the Brewers had three more moments which might have won the game.
An inventive chipped pass from the right by Chapman found Lakin arriving at the far post but he could not get any power in his shot, then
Smith played Chapman through and he looked to be reaching the pass when Ehmer bundled him over.
It looked a much better shout for a penalty than in the first half but referee Carl Boyeson, to Hasselbiank’s fury, was unmoved.
The headlines would have been different if Jebbison, sent through by Hamer, had capped his debut with a 90th-minute winner but Cumming was out well to smother a hesitant shot and the points were shared.