One win in eight as it starts to unravel for Brewers
THEN CLEAN SHEET WAIT IS ENDED BY FOUR IN A ROW!
The final part of our review of the 2021-22 season sees Burton Albion drifting towards the end of a campaign that had promised more than it had delivered. Good performances had too often been followed by bad and the departures in the January window had done the Brewers no favours. MARCH
THE Sheffield Wednesday Burton Albion faced at Hilsborough on the first day of March had hit their stride and looked far better than the team that had won 2-0 at the Pirelli Stadium a few weeks before.
They were ruthless and yet the Brewers threatened to make a game of it.
Soon after Barry Bannan had put Wednesday 2-0 up, Adlene Guediourra pulled one back with a vicious shot, then Oumar Niasse got his first goal for the club early in the second half to make it 2-2.
The next goal would be crucial but it was Wednesday who got it and they pulled away for a 5-2 win which, while it was slightly harsh on Burton, amply illustrated how important it is to convert chances when they come.
It was something the Brewers had largely struggled to do all season. Oxford United have become a bogey side for Albion in recent seasons and they completed their fifth straight win over Burton in the next game, roaring to a 4-0 lead in an embarrassing first half. Guediourra lashed in another ferocious shot on the stroke of halftime but there the scoring ended as Oxford sat calmly on what they had for the second half.
For the first hour of the next game, at home to Fleetwood Town, Burton were just as poor and trailed 2-0. Remarkably, they found a spark for the last half hour and roared back to win 3-2, with two goals from Niasse and, finally, a first for the club from Louis Moult, who had really struggled to make any kind of impact after recovering from his injury.
That win was papering over the worrying cracks which had appeared, though, because Charlton Athletic strolled to a 2-0 win at The Valley to close March as early as the 19th for another international break.
The defensive solidity which had characterised the Great Escape had gone missing
APRIL
When the action resumed, Morecambe, needing points to escape the drop zone, showed more determination and dismissed the Brewers 3-0.
It was one win in eight now for Burton and at least two goals conceded in each of the last six matches.
Albion were not in real danger of being sucked into the relegation battle.
The six battling it out to try to escape the bottom four places had not picked up enough form to get back to the pack in the middle of the table.
But the defensive solidity which had characterised the previous season’s Great Escape under Hasselbaink had gone missing and the last six fixtures were pitting Burton against four of the promotion contenders.
Goalkeeper Ben Garratt had been excellent for most of the season but had begun to look as if his confidence and decision-making were suffering in the face of the sloppy defending in front of him and Hasselbaink
decided to give Manchester United loanee Matej Kovar a chance.
It could have gone so differently for the Czech Republic Under-21 international.
In the first minute of Kovar’s debut, at home to Plymouth Argyle, he was beaten by Joe Edwards’ header and Plymouth felt the ball was in but John Brayford produced a brilliant clearance off the line.
Kovar was not seriously troubled again, the game ended 0-0 and the Brewers had their first clean sheet in 21 matches.
Crazily, soon, they had three more. League leaders Wigan Athletic began a wobble in which they went five games without a win when they also drew 0-0 at the Pirelli two days later.
Burton almost won a cracking game in stoppage time when Joe Powell sent a chip sailing over goalkeeper Ben Amos, only for defender Kell Watts to pull off a spectacular flying headed clearance.
Wigan went on to win the title by two points. Had Powell’s effort gone in, as it turns out, they would have won it merely on goals scored, with the same points and goal difference as second-placed Rotherham United.
The third successive 0-0 draw, away to Accrington Stanley, was, perhaps unsurprisingly, less entertaining but at least Burton had arrested what had become quite a steep decline.
Next time out, they reminded supporters what they were capable of by outplaying and beating Rotherham United 2-0 at the Pirelli, with good goals from Cameron Borthwickjackson and Brayford.
A visit to Doncaster Rovers, doomed to relegation, brought another reminder of how poor the Brewers could also be.
In a bright first half-hour, Gassan Ahadme missed a penalty and Joe Dodoo put Rovers ahead three minutes later. They added a second after the break and it was another lacklustre defeat.
The season closed with Wycombe Wanderers needing a win to be sure of a place in the play-offs and, finally, getting it, 2-1.
But it was a game which, as Hasselbaink admitted, encapsulated much of Burton’s season in a frustrating 90 minutes.
They played reasonably well but then conceded the first goal for the 29th time in 46 fixtures.
A neat finish from Ahadme got them level but they were unable to build on that and a defensive mistake, by Powell, led to Jordan Obita turning in Wycombe’s winner.
January’s departures had not helped the Brewers but, all too often, they had not helped themselves.
It is easier said than done but, somehow, the defensive solidity they have shown they are capable off has to be married to more enterprise going forward and more ruthlessness when they get to the last third.
That was exactly what Hasselbaink had targeted before the season. Now for another go at achieveing it.