Dino: We were great on the ball but naive with defending
DINO Maamria had to balance his pride in Burton Albion’s performance with disappointment that they did not win the game after Saturday’s pulsating 3-3 draw at home to Charlton Athletic.
The Brewers had dominated in the first half but found themselves 2-0 down before battling back to draw level by half-time.
Victor Adeboyejo’s wonder strike gave them the lead in the second half but Charlton hit back when the Brewers failed to deal with a chipped ball forward and they had to settle for a point.
“We scratched our heads in the first half at how we could be 2-0 down as we had totally dominated the game, as we did from start to finish,” said Maamria.
“For 94 minutes, we were outstanding as a team.
“But we conceded three goals and we can’t be that naïve.
“By the 74th minute, they had had three shots and scored three goals and they were all one on ones.”
Goalkeeper Viljami Sinisalo hesitated in coming out and was lobbed by Jesuran Rak-sakyi for the third goal but Maamria felt the problem could not just be blamed on him.
“I don’t just look at the goalkeeper and the back four because if you look at the goals, they come from higher up the field,” said the Burton boss.
“The third goal, people will look at the keeper but it comes from just in front of the dugout when we had two midfielders the wrong side of their player and he puts through a good ball. That shouldn’t happen.
“In the situation we are in, we have to sort out those problems and stop being so naïve.
“At Bolton, we dominated the game and conceded two late goals. As a team we have to have the mentality when we don’t have the ball to be compact and hard to beat.”
That was weighed against how good the Brewers were on the ball against Charlton.
“With the ball we were outstanding,” said Maamria.
“We kept going forward, having shots, creating chances and I don’t know how we only scored three. Their keeper made some great saves.
“We have had 25 shots and 10 on target, scored three fantastic goals, had some unbelievable performances but have not won.”
Maamria had to shuffle his pack with centre-half Adrian Mariappa the latest on the injury list, while Adeboyejo came off not long after his goal.
“I had to take Victor off as I was concerned about his hamstring. Joe Dodoo and Sam Winnall came on and kept the momentum going forward for us,” said Maamria.
“But we are missing John Brayford, Adrian Mariappa and Corrie Ndaba, three big players from our back line and it meant we had to take Deji (Oshilaja) out of midfield, where we missed him – but we only have one Deji.
“The fans will have enjoyed it but I’m not sure I did as that’s two points dropped for me.”