Dino: So many good things in our character
A PENALTY given – to Plymouth Argyle – and one not given, to Burton Albion, were inevitable talking points after the Brewers’ 2-2 draw with the League One leaders.
Burton boss Dino Maamria had a forthright view on both – but he did not want to dwell on talking about the officials again, as he had found himself doing too often up to the previous two relatively non-controversial games at the Pirelli Stadium.
Argyle equalised with a penalty after Niall Ennis and Tom Hamer came together in the box but, seconds before Adrian Mariappa scored Burton’s last-gasp equaliser, Joe Powell appeared to be nudged over in the oppisite box by Ennis.
“The two penalty decisions – if VAR had been here, they probably wouldn’t have given the first one (Plymouth’s) and they would have given the second one (Burton’s),” said Maamria.
“The player was already going down before Tom made contact and he actually fell on top of Tom.
“Late on, Joe Powell was about to shoot when Ennis came in the back of him and the referee didn’t give that.
“But let’s not talk about the referee because it was a fantastic game of football.
“Our team finished the game strongly. The character, the desire, the will to win and the Pirelli Stadium rocking – there were a lot of good things.”
Maamria’s selection caused a surprise when he started with three strikers, Bobby Kamwa and Joe Dodoo coming in for full debuts alongside Victor Adeboyejo.
And Kamwa rewarded his manager by scoring his first professional goal in the 40th minute.
“The situation we are in, it doesn’t matter who you are playing against you have to be brave and bold and I think I am both!” he smiled.
“We went with three forwards and at home we have to have a belief we can win the game. I thought all three were magnificent.
“The first half was an outstanding performance – I’m not sure how many shots we had, about 10 – and they had none.
“The only disappointing thing was that we only scored one goal.
“In the second half, they came stronger and changed their shape.
“We didn’t carry on the football we played in the first half. I told them to carry on as if it was 0-0, with the same tempo and pressure, as we had in the first half.
“But Plymouth are a good team, we have to respect that, and they caused us problems with their pace.
“I was disappointed with the goals we conceded as both came from transition.
“We are at home, we are winning 1-0 and we should be in control with our defensive organisation spot on.
“We have a lot of desire, a lot of energy but as a young team we don’t always have the know-how.
“But we will keep learning and as long as we keep showing that work ethic we can come back like this against good teams.
“We will use this as a springboard – how we kept going forward with belief and confidence.
“Anybody that’s going to come here and play us, they will be in for a game, there’s no doubt about it.”