Burton Albion Football Club

Gaffer proud of team's efforts

Burton Albion manager Gary Rowett was disappointed but proud of his Brewers team after their 1-0 defeat to Fleetwood Town in Monday’s play-off final.

The Brewers were edged out in a tight affair at Wemble=y, and the manager wants his team to bounce back next season.

“I wouldn’t go as far as to say it was just disappointment. There was a lot of pride and there was a lot of emotion from the players as they’ve been excellent this season.

“Our season started in earnest when we lost to Bradford last season and I said to the players back then that we could come back stronger and challenge for promotion again this season.

“We have done, we’ve come to Wembley for a fantastic opportunity and whilst we’re disappointed that we haven’t been able to take it, we have to use it to spur us on next season.

“We have two choices. We can learn from it and be better and try and improve your side. As a manager you have to improve and learn what it takes to take the extra step,” said Rowett.

This is the second season of play-off heartbreak for Albion, and Rowett knows any improvement next season will lead to promotion at the third attempt.

“We don’t look superstitiously at it, we just want to improve further and if we do that we’ll get promoted. It’s not an easy task to get better season by season, and I believe we will.

“The fact is that we’ve not won the game when it was quite even, where both teams had chances and I thought some of our chances were slightly better than theirs. We perhaps lacked the cutting edge in the final third to take advantage,” he said.

Rowett also reserved a special mention for the thousands of Albion fans who travelled and made an excellent atmosphere throughout the game.

“The fans were brilliant. They weren’t massive in numbers but they outnumbered Fleetwood and that’s why I tried to take my time to thank them at the end.

“They’ve been really supportive all season and I hope we’ve given them a day out. It wouldn’t be a ‘great’ day out as that’s dictated by the result, but a day out and an experience.

“As a club we’ve come a long way and we’ve just got to see if we can keep improving.