BURTON Albion under 18s completed their mission of progressing from their Youth Alliance Cup group with a 4-0 win over Shrewsbury.
Joe Sbarra, fresh from signing his first professional deal with the Brewers, scored either side of half time, while Tristan Mathews and Dylan Garnett also netted in the rout. Mansfield Town’s 2-0 loss to Walsall meant that Burton leapfrogged the Stags into top spot, and moved into the area quarter finals.
Having been beaten 2-1 by Mansfield in their opening cup game, the Brewers faced a difficult task of bettering the Youth Alliance league leader’s result in order to win group two. But Sam Rose’s men dominated Shrewsbury, while Mansfield faltered against a Walsall side who had registered just a point from their opening two cup games.
Rose said this his team put in a professional performance, and the manager was pleased to see the young Brewers continue their good form.
“We knew it was going to be an interesting game because Shrewsbury really do try to pass the ball around and when you let them get into a rhythm or a tempo they can really control the game. The shapes that we played were very similar with three at the back.
“The work that we have done in the week with the lads has paid dividends. They have taken on board little bits and pieces of information and they have been able to go out today and stifle Shrewsbury, not really let them get into a rhythm or really let them get a grip on the game.
“We took our chances and in the end and with all due respect to Shrewsbury, it was relatively comfortable and we are just really pleased that the other result has gone our way and therefore we can keep soldiering on. We are still in the cup, which is a great experience for the lads.”
The young Brewers follow up their cup tie with an away trip to Oldham, looking to continue their good run of form in the league, which has seen them win their last three Youth Alliance Northeast Division games. In fact, Burton have lost just once in the league this season and sit fourth, five points behind leaders Mansfield with two games in hand.