O’Connor loss a blow after fine start
THE loss of Tom O’Connor to injury after only 10 minutes was not why Burton Albion lost to Cambridge United on Saturday but it certainly represented a moment of despair for everyone connected with the Brewers.
Quietly, the summer signing from Gillingham has become a key figure, even at this early stage of the season, and Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink will hope that the hamstring issue which forced him from the field is not serious.
O’Connor had slightly miscontrolled the ball about 22 yards out and hurt himself when he stretched to try to keep the ball.
He stayed down while Cambridge broke away on the attack and was replaced by Cameron BorthwickJackson.
The Brewers have not been lucky with injuries, having had four forwards out of action, and now they have two key holding midfielders out, with Deji Oshilaja already in the treatment room.
It may have been a precaution, simply keeping weight off the leg, but Oshilaja was still using crutches at last Tuesday night’s game against Sunderland.
The plus side, at least, is that the holding midfield positions played by
Oshilaja and O’Connor are an area in which Burton are well served.
Terry Taylor was out of the squad with illness on Saturday but it is quite clear the 20-year-old is going to be a top player and he will hopefully be back in contention for Friday’s game at home to Cheltenham Town.
Meanwhile, Cameron Borthwick-Jackson made a decent job of the position when he replaced O’Connor on Saturday, although it was a day when almost nothing went right for the Brewers.
O’Connor, though, has been a revelation so far.
There were concerns in the summer that it would be difficult to replace the energy and commitment that Sean Clare and Ryan Edwards had brought to Burton’s midfield but Oshilaja, initially, the calm and efficient Michael Mancienne and especially O’Connor have taken little time to dispel them.
O’Connor gets about the pitch. While his principle job is a holding one, in front of the back four, he arrives in the opposition penalty area, too – it was he who was on hand in the centre of the box to slip the ball to Joe Powell, who was then fouled for the penalty Lucas Akins put away to beat Ipswich Town.
In that game, he had also twice shown that he has an eye for goal, stationed just outside the box at setpieces.
One shot, hit low, went wide, the next fizzed a foot over the bar and it may not be long before he finds the target.
O’Connor had been playing at centre-half for Gillingham under Steve Evans and can also play leftback but when Hasselbaink signed him in June he immediately said “hopefully we’ll mainly see him in midfield.”
Kilkenny-born, O’Connor comes with some pedigree.
He had signed for Southampton’s acclaimed academy at 16 and spent the best part of six years under contract there.
He first went to Gillingham for the first half of the 2019-20 season but the loan was extended to the end of that season and he played 32 games.
The following season, it was a season-long loan from the off and this time he played 35 games.
Evans made noises about wanting to keep him, with his Southampton contract ending in the summer, but it was Hasselbaink who turned his head.
As any Burton watcher knows, Evans is hardly the most popular manager to grace the away dugouts at the Pirelli Stadium but Hasselbaink paid him something of a compliment when talking about O’Connor last week.
“We knew that Tom was a tough boy because if you are two years at Gillingham with their manager, you have to be tough because he’s a tough man who likes tough players,” said Hasselbaink.
“I don’t mean that in a disrespectful way. So, mentally, we knew that the boy was strong and that’s what we wanted.
“He’s Irish, there’s no bull. He’s quite quiet but when he speaks, he speaks, if you know what I mean.”
It looks likely that the 22-year-old will continue to play a big role for Burton when he is fit again, hopefully sooner rather than later.