That’s the spirit! Top man Niasse leads way
DELIGHTED assistant manager Dino Maamria was relived to see his Burton side show great spirit as they came back from two goals down to beat struggling Fleetwood.
Former Everton striker Oumar Niasse was at the heart of the success with two of his side’s three goals.
And Maamria couldn’t have been happier.
“In the first half we were full of anxiety” Maamria admitted.
“When you go through a sticky period, like we have been there is an expectation of something to happen and we have a lot of young players.
“We came back second half and the subs made a huge impact and I think overall we deserved to win the game. I think we had more than 20 shots so to get three goals is the least we can do.”
Fleetwood nudged in front after 18 minutes when a free-kick was launched into the Burton box and, in a ruck of bodies, the ball bounced off Burton defender Deji Oshilaja and looped in.
Albion looked for a response and Jonny Smith thudded an effort from a tight angle against a post after 25 minutes, but Burton struggled to break down a resolute Town defence. Substitute Butterworth scored with his first touch, prodding home Cian Hayes’ cross less than a minute after coming on in the second half, but Niasse halved Albion’s arrears quickly with a close- range header after they had hit the bar for a third time.
Ben Garratt made two crucial saves to deny Butterworth, before Burton sub Louis Moult scored within two minutes of coming on swivelling inside the box to fire home and the comeback was complete when Niasse calmly dinked a neat finish beyond ex-Albion keeper Kieran O’Hara in the 90th minute. Fleetwood boss Stephen Crainey was left to reflect on a hugely disappointing defeat that extends his side’s winless run to 11 games.
“Very disappointing, obviously, going 2-0 up away from home we should be winning the game” a dejected Crainey began.
“I thought we looked comfortable at that point as well. It’s not like Burton cut us open.
“It was more second phases from set plays and us just not sticking to our jobs.”