BURTON COME TO THE BOIL TO THRILL ROWETT
BURTON A........2 SOUTHEND ......0 Shrimpers unbeaten run is finally ended
BURTON Albion boss Gary Rowett hailed his side as ‘magnificent’ as they ended Southend United’s lengthy unbeaten run.
The Shrimpers went in to the game having not lost in their last 14 outings.
But they never looked like troubling the Brewers and that delighted Rowett, whose team also moved up in to the play-off positions.
“I thought we were magnificent out there and again showed that we can match any side in this league when we get things right,” said Rowett.
“The work-rate and effort was fantastic against a very good and in form side and the pleasing thing was Southend didn’t really create too many chances against us.
“We limited them to very few opportunities and winning our first headers was the key.
“That disrupted Southend’s momentum and made it a very good afternoon for us.”
The Brewers were able to record the victory despite playing the final 14 minutes with 10 men after defender Nathan Stanton was dismissed for a second bookable offence.
Stanton was shown a second yellow card by referee Gary Sutton after appearing to push Luke Prosser inside the penalty area while lining up to defend a freekick.
And Rowett was disappointed by the behaviour of his defender.
“He’s experienced enough to have known better and not got himself in to that situation,” said Rowett.
“I didn’t see the incident clearly and will need to look at it again before commenting properly but he’s given the referee a decision to make and given him a chance to send him off.”
The dismissal did not prove costly though as two goals inside the opening 36 minutes handed the Brewers all three points.
Rowett’s team went in front with 16 minutes on the clock when Lee Bell’s right-wing cross picked out Calvin Zola who slid the ball in to the back of the net from eight yards.
The Brewers then went further ahead 20 minutes later when a long-range shot from Bell appeared to be heading wide of the right post until it deflected off Shrimpers captain Chris Barker and flew in to the back of the net.
Southend tried to get back in to the game in the second half and their best chance came late on when substitute David Martin scuffed a close-range shot wide of the left post.
That ensured the Shrimpers sunk to their first defeat since October and frustrated manager Paul Sturrock.
“It was a bad day at the office for us and we paid the price for a poor attitude,” said Sturrock.
“Over confidence is just as bad as not having enough confidence and that’s what’s happened here.
“There was one team out there who fought to make things happen and there was one team who just thought it was going to happen. “It was disappointing but it’s one defeat in 15 games for us and hopefully we can react in the right way to this and get another run going.”