Point’s OK but Jimmy felt Albion could have had three
HAPPY as he was with a solid point away from home in Friday’s 0-0 draw with Accrington Stanley, Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink bemoaned misses chances in the first half which might have made the day even better.
The best opportunity saw winger Jonny Smith, picked out by an astute Ryan Edwards pass, smash a shot against the underside of the bar in the first half.
But it was Accrington who had the best chances of the second half, one in stoppage time requiring a very good save from goalkeeper Ben Garratt as he rushed out to block Dion Charles’ shot.
“I think, in the first half, we made them look ordinary and should have been one or two goals up but when you don’t take your chances, you’re going to make it difficult,” said the Burton manager.
“Even then, it was only the last two minutes when we lost our shape a little bit and they had two chances.
“If we had not given those two chances away in the last two minutes I would have said we were unlucky (not to win) but I think they had the best chance of the game in the last minute.
“Ben made two really good saves but normally I don’t want to give those opportunities away.
“We know that we need to shut up shop and with two or three minutes to go, can we stay solid for the whole game through?
“We will look at that but the goalkeeper came, made some heroic saves and I’m very happy with a point – we move on to the next game.”
Overall, Hasselbaink was satisfied with his side’s defending.
“We spoke about hard this would be, that they would be right in our faces and would have their two big strikers back,” he said.
“I think if you want to achieve something you have to be hard to beat. You can’t be a soft touch – and we aren’t a soft touch.
“We can improve in a lot of areas but you need that desire to keep a clean sheet and defend as a unit.
“We had two really good chances and we needed to score at least one. Jonny is disappointed with the one that came off the bar. If you give him 10 of those, eight of them will go in.
“But I am not one of those managers who will criticise players for missing chances. It happened to me in my career many many times. It’s what you do after missing that matters.”
Burton returned to action after a 10-day break and Hasselbaink was satisfied that the rest had refreshed his squad after a relentless run of fixtures.
“I was happy with the energy and freshness, that was there,” he said. “Could we, at times, have got forward more and got more people in the box? Yes.
“It was a big game for both sides. We had lost our last two games and they had lost their last one 7-0.
“Both of us wanted to keep it tight and not give a lot away and you could see that it was not a classic.
“If we had made it 1-0, it might have opened up. It wasn’t there and I’m very happy with the point.”
The result made it eight games unbeaten on the road for the Brewers but the manager was, predictably, unconcerned with the statistic.
“I’m happy with getting points on the board, I don’t really mind whether they come at home or away. They are all welcome, wherever they come,” he said.
That said, he acknowledged that the Brewers must aim to improve their record under him at the Pirelli Stadium, which stands at won three, lost three, since his return, including losing the last two home matches.
They are at home to Swindon Town today (3pm).
“The big challenge for us, at home, is can we find ourselves, can we get the same energy and intensity going forward back into our game?” he said.
“Hopefully, we can play our best football against Swindon and really put them under pressure.”
Michael Bostwick missed Friday’s game and will miss out today after again struggling with a groin problem. He has had a further scan on it and a result is awaited.
If we had not given away those two late chances I would have said we were unlucky. Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink