How it never quite worked out in the middle of the park in Albion’s season
BOSS ENDED STILL LOOKING FOR HIS BEST COMBINATION
With Burton Albion’s 2021-22 season passing into memory, we are taking a look at the squad who represented the club during a frustrating campaign which nonetheless included some highlights and in which some players enhanced their reputations, others less so. Today, a look at the midfielders
JUST as with the defenders, there is a blurring of the edges when it comes to considering Burton Albion’s midfielders.
Some of them have played games in defence, some have been deployed up front, one, Jonny Smith, is probably best described as an out and out winger.
Nonetheless, it has to be said that midfield has not worked out as well for the Brewers this season as manager Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink would have hoped.
Some combinations have worked well at times, less so at others and the season ended perhaps with the manager still searching for his most effective unit or the one man who can be a constant in the middle, pulling everyone else along with him.
JOE POWELL
He is the obvious starting point, the one supporters and the manager have hoped can dominate and make things happen in the middle of the park for the Brewers. And sometimes he does.
Powell is just completing his first senior contract, which has seen him with the club for two-and-a-half years. Each successive manager has called for more consistency and Powell’s search for it has been evident. He is fitter and works harder than when he started. His set-piece delivery is excellent and he looks good when he drives at opponents and sets up chances. Fans will hope he signs a new deal, stays and continues to improve.
HARRY CHAPMAN
An enigmatic season for the Blackburn Rovers midfielder, who was with the Brewers in two separate loan spells. There is something there and he seems committed to his career but that career is at a crossroads with his release from Rovers. Might his future lie with Burton? There are moments when Chapman looks so classy, dribbling with quick feet and creating chances. He has also shown good anticipation to snuff out danger when attacks break down but, in the end, there has not been enough end product.
JACOB MADDOX
He arrived on a season-long loan from Vitória de Guimarães in Portugal, Hasselbaink hoping he would thrive by “coming home.” But Maddox was injured in the opening game of the season and, once recovered, never grabbed the chances he was given to cement a place in the side, making 16 appearances, only eight of which were starts. The move, in the end, did not work out for either party and, still under contract in Portugal, where does his career go from here?
JONNY SMITH
It has not been the season fans or, surely, the player would have wanted. He is a great favourite and his goal of the season, a match-winning first-time strike against Sunderland, was one of the special moments of the campaign. When he is on song and running at people he looks like he could operate at a higher level but a series of injury niggles have held him back and he ended the season unluckily, damaging his shoulder in a fall and needing an operation. He still managed 32 appearances and five goals but the hope would be that he is able to play every week next season.
There is something there but Chapman’s career is at a crossroads with his release from Blackburn
BRYN MORRIS
There were high hopes when he arrived. Hasselbaink brought him to the club as a teenager on loan in his first spell in charge and rated him but Morris, with one start and six substitute appearances, never remotely threatened to become a key cog and ended the season on loan with Hartlepool United in his home town.
CHARLIE LAKIN
Hasselbaink described it as an opportunity he could not turn down when Lakin was available from Birmingham City on the last day of the summer window and handed him a three-year contract but we are cer
tainly still waiting to see the best of him. One or two energetic performances and one outstanding defence-splitting pass to set Kane Hemmings up for a goal against Rotherham United hinted at what he can do but he is another who will go into next season with plenty to prove.
CIARAN GILLIGAN
It was a mixed bag of a second professional season for Gilligan, the first to come right through the age groups to the first team with the Brewers. He was injured in pre-season, then again during a run in the team in the second half of the season. Hasselbaink says he is inclined to get injured by pushing too hard.
The manager had looked to loan him out for experience but there were no takers and he showed what his energy could bring in a strong seven-match run in the side, notably when he had a hand in all three goals in the 3-1 win over Bolton Wanderers in February. He only made 10 appearances in all but he is certainly very highly thought of, the sort of midfielder who does the hard, unglamorous yards.
TERRY TAYLOR
It was hoped this might be the season the Wales Under-21 captain might really announce himself and become a midfield kingpin for Burton
but it did not happen. It still should – he is only 20 and perhaps the weight of expectation was tough to deal with.
Taylor is certainly highly-rated and many feel he should have had more opportunities but in the cold light of day, mistakes led to goals against more than once when he was involved. He ended the season with only 20 appearances and next season will be a big one for him.
TOM O’CONNOR
In a purple patch in September and October, the summer signing from Gillingham really looked the part.
Hard-tackling, creative and with an excellent set-piece delivery. He twice scored direct from corners, once from a free kick, curled in a beauty against Morecambe and opened his account with a low drive against Portsmouth.
He also missed a month with an injury and, after 21 appearances, was sold to Wrexham in January. It did not look bad business, with Burton well-stocked in midfield.
DANNY ROWE
He simply disappeared from the scene, in terms of playing, after doing enough on a short-term deal the previous season to earn a oneyear deal this time. We simply do not know about Rowe. His career record suggests the same has happened with other clubs.
Hasselbaink expressed disappointment: he had “high hopes” for Rowe but he clearly was not seeing enough in training to justify including him and his release at the end of the season was the least surprising.