Burton Albion Football Club

Burton Albion defender Shane Cansdell-Sherriff believes today's 2-1 win at Oxford United is a massive result.

Dominic Knowles and Zeli Ismail put Albion into a two goal lead within half an hour, but the Brewers had to hold on during the second half.

"We talked before the game about how important it was to get a result. We knew it would be a tough game and to come away with three points is a fantastic result for the boys.

"This is the always a hard place to come, so to go two up early was fantastic and we could have got a third. We were flying in the first half and the second half was a bit different. 

"They had the crowd behind them and all they needed was half a chance. It doesn't feel windy but the ball seemed to hold up when it was coming our way, making it hard for us to clear our lines. Every time we got it away it seemed to land at their feet," said Cansdell-Sherriff.

The early goals gave the Brewers a platform with which to build, and whilst they had to defend for most of the second half, Cansdell-Sherriff is pleased to take the points home.

"To go two up in the first half at Oxford is massive, and you know you have to build on it in the second half. It wasn't pretty but by next week the performance will be forgotten, but the result will still be there.

"Sometimes it happens. It's not pretty but sometimes you need to defend like that. It wasn't just the back four or five, everyone grafted today and even Billy Kee was coming back to hep out," Cansdell-Sherriff said.

Ian Sharps was forced of by injury in the second half, leading to Marcus Holness' first appearance since September. Despite having a new partner in defence, Cansdell-Sherriff has a good understanding of Holness.

"Me and Bob (Holness) work hard together in training and I made sure I spoke to him. It's bad for Sharpsy to go off, but I don't think it's anything major. Sometimes in football you need people to come in and do the same job, and that's what Bob did," he added.

The Brewers are back on the road in midweek with a visit to Portsmouth, and Cansdell-Sherriff is focusing on the job at hand.

"Portsmouth will be a tough game. They've doe alright recently so it's important that we go down there and play like we dd today and get some points."