Owls secure first victory at Albion to delight Daz
DARREN Moore returned to the dugout after missing Wednesday’s last match to see his side triumph on the road at Burton Albion.
Goals from George Byers and Sylla Sow gave the Owls their first away league win in five attempts – and their first win against the Brewers.
A happy Moore said: “The boys, from start to finish, were well engaged and focused, and I thought we were worthy winners based on how the game went.”
Byers put Wednesday in front in the 32nd minute after Burton keeper Ben Garratt turned away Nathaniel Mendez-Laing’s cross from a short corner routine. The midfielder, bagging his second in as many games, pounced on the rebound to fire home from close range.
Garratt kept Albion in the game on the stroke of halftime, saving with his feet when a corner was turned goalwards at close range by Jordan Storey.
Harry Chapman had an opportunity to equalise when through one-on-one with Peacock-Farrell after 77 minutes, with the big keeper’s outstretched leg denying him.
It proved a costly miss as substitute Sow put the game beyond Albion with nine minutes remaining, when he deflected home Barry Bannan’s driven shot.
Albion threatened a late comeback, with substitute Christian Saydee smashing a shot against a post, denying him a debut goal.
Moore said: “We got the goals at the right time and I thought the concentration levels at the back were good to get the clean sheet.”
Despite an injury crisis among his strikers, Moore was pleased to see Byers on the scoresheet for the second game in a row.
He said: “His performance today was good but we wanted to manage his game time so we managed to get him off before he got deep into his second game in a few days – but him scoring again settled us down.”
Burton boss Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink was left frustrated by both his side’s performance – as well as the referee’s.
He said: “We scrapped but the quality was poor and that is my main worry.”
He added: “I am not saying it is the referee’s fault that we have lost, but I want a fair-whistled game and I have to say I have just seen the worst referee that I have ever had.”