Four goals, a fair but frustrating outcome. Burton boss Dino Maamria was satisfied but not entirely pleased with his side’s 2-2 home draw vs. Championship side West Brom, as they continue intensifying their pre-season exertions before the new League One campaign proper begins next month.
Pieters gives Baggies lead they can’t hold
- Burton head coach Dino Maamria: “We’ve got 11 players in, they’ve got to understand what we’re about as a football cub and a team, they’ve been winning games in different ways elsewhere but there are certain non-negotiables for us… intensity, commitment, work ethic and they need to get used to that. We’re building quite nicely,” he reaffirms post-match
- Tunisian confirms chairman Ben Robinson “has been really good” for them, understands and backs the project they’re building while giving them resources to strengthen without having to dip into the loan market as regularly as was the case last season, speaks to growing cohesion
- Burton’s remaining pre-season fixtures: Championship side Stoke on Tuesday, non-league Belper Town 24 hours later and Scunthorpe next Saturday before League One campaign begins at Blackpool on August 5
Burton fullback John Brayford did what you’d expect a captain to early on, sweeping clear danger out for a corner that ultimately fizzled out for the Baggies as their waves of pressure down the flanks persisted with time.
Tom Hamer and Cole Stockton combined outside the area, with the latter firing wide after a hopeful effort.
Ticky-tack fouls early on threatened to muddy the rhythm on a wet, gloomy afternoon in Burton-on-Trent before a pair of goals five minutes apart added spice.
First though, Brandon Thomas-Asante was left to rue lacking power on his header as Matt Phillips twisted and turned his way into fashioning a deflected cross in the area.
Jamal Blackman made a comfortable save at point-blank range, but any more conviction on that attempt and West Brom could’ve been ahead without warning.
Three minutes later, they were.
The visiting fans were baying for a cluster of their players to let fly outside the area after some intricate interplay down the right and it was an unlikely source – former Stoke fullback Erik Pieters – hitting low and hard goalwards.
Blackman really should’ve done better, diving to his left but watching it trickle underneath his grasp, as the deadlock was broken.
Burton boss Dino Maamria was forcefully remonstrating with his team before the goal, but had gone eerily silent in the minutes since. Soon enough, the Tunisian’s side had equalised after Mason Bennett floated a cross for Stockton to head home.
It was again a case of poor goalkeeping, this time by Alex Palmer with the ball almost travelling in slow motion beyond his reach into the far corner.
Thomas-Asante should’ve done better but skewed a snapshot harmlessly wide after more wing play worked a treat for the Championship side, before Jasper Moon made an important interception to thwart the 24-year-old getting an assist.
Leeds academy graduate Alex Mowatt might be diminutive in size at 5ft 10in but made a considerable contribution in pockets from midfield as he teed up Phillips on 37 minutes, helping the Baggies regain their slender advantage.
The former Scotland international made no mistake from close-range, before Bennett should’ve equalised down the other end a minute later.
Instead, the former Derby man didn’t strike cleanly as Palmer smothered the danger, before Mowatt split Burton’s backline open again with a quickly-taken freekick.
It was subtle sequences like this which showed the difference between two sides, competitive for sustained periods but grinding to a predictable lull as a much-changed Baggies side saw cohesion split.
Burton’s new man Blackman with a memorable showing
Blackman flickered between brilliant and baffling, adding to the spectacle for those travelling West Brom supporters behind him in the second-half.
Having made smart saves from Thomas-Asante and half-time sub Mo Faal, he almost gifted them a two-goal cushion after needlessly dithering in possession.
Faal pressed him into relinquishing possession, as an agonising wait saw the ball clip the outside of the post and gratefully go out for a goal-kick.
Faal forced the Chelsea academy product into another save, this time the 29-year-old made himself big, closed down the angles and thwarted him at the near post.
Burton goalscorer Stockton’s last action of the afternoon was to fire narrowly over the crossbar after a one-two with sub Mustapha Carayol gave him a first-time hit he’d have liked to have back.
John Swift and Tom Fellows, two more half-time alterations in a fully-changed side for Carlos Corberán, continued to threaten down the right with slick interplay.
Fellows first, then Swift ten minutes later, both had opportunities denied by an alert Blackman while Fellows again came close shortly afterwards.
Ciaran Gilligan’s goalbound effort was thunderously blocked out of the stadium – yes, you read that right – by a sliding Semi Ajayi, while forward duo Josh Gordon and Bobby Kamwa provided fresh impetus for the hosts in the latter stages off the bench.
Right on cue then, it was ex-Leeds youngster Kamwa who curled one in from distance to equalise in the 89th minute, as West Brom were duly punished for their complacency at the back. Perhaps this intensity lull shouldn’t have been surprising.
It could’ve got even better still with three minutes’ stoppage-time to play, but alas, the referee’s quick whistle and more tactical fouls stifled Burton’s surging finish.
Picture source: Getty Images, quotes procured by me
Mo and Sports 