Brewers boss reflects on York draw
Burton Albion manager Gary Rowett was more than satisfied with the performance of his team as they went to Skybet League 2's inform side in York City and looked more likely to break the deadlock in a tightly fought encounter between two sides battling for promotion."I would say its a good away point" said Rowett, "If you look at the way that we played and the chances that we created, I think we created quite a lot more than they have today and for large spells we were in control of the game. It is all about just finding that little bit extra in the finishing. Matty [Palmer] has got in a couple of times and so has Callum [McFadzean], Billy [Kee] has hit the bar and made the keeper scramble, Adam [McGurk] has got into some terrific positions so overall I am really pleased with the work that we have done today. We had to bring Belly back in today in place of Robbie and you always have to hope for that continuity and I thought that Lee was really good today as well."
"They are a team that has won eight of the last ten games and I feel that we dominated the best part of the game today."
Against a side like York, in the sort of form they were in it would have been easy for the Brewers to go into the game looking for a point but Rowett insisted that it was not in his mind to be defensive in his outlook and that he always sends his side out to win the game.
"We havent played a game yet this season where we have set out to defend" explained the manager, "If you look at a lot of the games earlier on in the season where we have played 4-5-1 then even in those games we have seen a lot of the ball and been more attacking than when we have gone out and played 4-4-2. Certain games dictate certain things and with them playing 4-4-2 or 4-4-1-1 meant that we needed to play the way we did and when we stuck to our game plan and the players did as we asked them to we looked really dangerous. Billy and Adam got in some great positions but even when they had their little spells of pressure I felt that we dealt with them really well."
Rowett was forced to changed his side with influential midfielder Robbie Weir sidelined with a slight hamstring strain but with skipper Lee Bell able to return it was a case of 'business as usual' in the midfield engine room.
"You know what you are going to get from Lee." Gary continued, "The only reason he hasnt been in the side of late is down to the form of the other two in there. I still think there is more to come from Matty Palmer and today there were glimpses of what he has got in his locker when he got forwards which sometimes he can do more of when Belly plays because he will sit in and Matty can get into the sort of spaces that Robbie would normally get into. It would just be great if he could finish one of the chances that he has been getting to really cap things off for him."
Billy Kee was closest to breaking the deadlock for Albion with a great volley that came back off the crossbar, that effort preceded by an audacious lobbed attempt similar to the goal scored by Wayne Rooney at Upton Park recently and the Brewers boss was happy with his striker's efforts whilst still wishing for some more clinical finishes to top things off.
"It was two brilliant moments from Billy. It was always going to be a moment of quality that was going to win this game between two hard working teams neither of whom wanted to give an inch and for the first one Billy has spotted the keeper off his line and incidentally I think the keeper was really scrambling for it and I dont think he would have got it had it been going in but it just faded narrowly wide and then he has gone and hit the bar a minute later so he has got that capability but so have other players in the team and that is perhaps my only frustration this season - in that we have had chances in every game and we just haven't managed to put enough of them away as the players do in training so maybe one day we are going to turn up one day and thump someone. Perhaps we are saving it for a crucial game somewhere."
Despite the goalless scoreline Rowett was keen to take good things from the game especially as the other sides above Albion in the table could also only manage goalless draws elsewhere in the division.
"We can take positives from today definitely. I still dont think there has been a game this season where we have been the poorer team, maybe Bristol Rovers away where we didnt perform the way we know we can, but on the whole we have done ok and if we can just find that little bit of extra quality then hopefully we can still be ok. We have conceded a lot fewer goals than last season and that was something we definitely needed to improve on and now we have arguably one of the best defensive records in the division but the hardest part of the game is scoring goals and lots of teams across all the divisions have the same problems, including sides who have spent a lot more money than we have but I look at the likes of Ash Hemmings and Gary Alexander and as they get fitter then they can offer us something a little bit different and we haven't ruled Zeli [Ismail] out for the season yet so there are players to come in and give us that extra little bit of quality that we are looking for."