Burton Albion Football Club

Burton Albion manager Gary Rowett was disappointed that his team couldn’t convert domination into goals as the Brewers went down 1-0 at Scunthorpe United.

Albion dominated the first half and looked the better side heading into the break, and Rowett has rued the missed opportunity as Paddy Madden’s goal settled it.

“It was disappointing to lose. In the first half we were as good as we’ve been, without creating too many clear cut chances. We’ve dominated the first 45 minutes, and unfortunately the game lasts for 90. We’ve got into some terrific positions and we need to make more of it. 

“We’ve played some excellent stuff in the first half and we need to have more of a cutting edge about us, and to turn those dominating performances into goals.

“We also had some good set pieces and two or three times we should have done better. At the end it’s another hard luck story where we’ve dropped too much in the second half, and it’s something we need to make sure we don’t do.

“I thought they closed the game out very well. They kept the ball and didn’t allow us to get out very much. We’ve given them the chance to score the goal and its poor defending on our part, and we need to be better

than that. Ultimately we’ve been too nice. We haven’t been ruthless enough and we’ve paid the price,” said Rowett.

The Brewers started with Billy Kee as a lone striker, although Dominic Knowles came on in the second half as Rowett pushed two up front, and he wants to turn more chances into goals.

“We tried to get forward to grab an equaliser. In the first half we created many more chances than the second half, and we’ve got to do more with the ball. We lacked the final ball and we’ve got to do that better,” he added.

Youngster Marcus Harness came on during the second half to make his league debut, and Rowett was pleased to give game time to the Academy player.

“It was nice to get him on the pitch. It’s important that we use young players and we’re looking further ahead than just this season. He’s a good player and he scored the winner in the Birmingham Senior Cup game in midweek and he does it in training all the time. 

“We wanted to get him on the pitch and we had nothing to lose at that stage. We needed an extra attacking player and Adam McGurk picked an injury up yesterday, and I didn’t want to risk him with Tuesday in mind.”