Clough hails Burton display in win over Accrington

Posted Sunday, March 24, 2019 by PA

Burton boss Nigel Clough was not as surprised as many inside the Pirelli Stadium as his side stormed back from 2-0 down to seal a comprehensive 5-2 home victory over Accrington.

Sean McConville and Billy Kee (penalty) had put Accrington 2-0 up but Scott Fraser pulled a goal back a minute before the break.

Kyle McFadzean levelled in the 68th minute and two Lucas Akins penalties, which sandwiched David Templeton’s effort, ensured the Brewers ran out convincing winners.

Clough said: “I thought we played well.

“We played well in the first 30-40 minutes and didn’t deserve to be 2-0 down, the goals came from two mistakes and lazy defending but the goal we got just before half-time was massively important, the timing of it.

“Scott’s goal was massive. Accrington knew we were going to come at them in the second half.

“We have played better in some other games here this season but the difference is we finished our chances off. Accrington are always a threat on the break because they are a good footballing team.”

‘Brilliant’ is how Clough described the equaliser from centre-back McFadzean, who stepped up to sweetly curl home a delightful free-kick midway through the second half to get Albion back on level terms.

Not many expected the big defender to take the free-kick but his manager had confidence.

Clough added: “We expected him to take it because he is the one that was practising them yesterday at the end of training. The fact he scored it was no surprise to us.”

Accrington boss John Coleman had no complaints about the defeat as he watched his side surrender the points from a winning position.

He said: “It is very, very rare that I have seen one of my teams capitulate like we did but we have done and there is no getting away from it.

“Burton fully deserved it. Maybe five flattered us a bit. Certainly going in 2-1 up at half-time flattered us and they were better than us in the second half.

“It is disappointing that we conceded as we did on the stroke of half-time. Their team-talk becomes a bit different. Ours was always going to be the same. It is very rare I can say that we have been comprehensively outplayed but today was one of them days.

“If you are grasping at straws you might use the excuse that we haven’t played for a couple of weeks and were a bit rusty but we looked devoid of energy and Burton ran all over us in the last half an hour or so.”