Caretaker pleasdwith Albion effort
Burton Albion caretaker manager Mike Whitlow admits to feeling slightly disappointed after watching his temporary side draw 1-1 at home to Plymouth Argyle.
The Brewers put in an encouraging performance in their first outing since Gary Rowett’s departure, and took the lead through Alex MacDonald shortly after the half-hour mark.
Reuben Reid’s penalty levelled the scores after the break, and Whitlow believes his side had enough chances to take all three points.
“The lads are disappointed because if they want to go for promotion and stay at the top of the league you want three points, especially after creating that many chances.
“In the first half we started really well an in the second half they had a right go at us, which I expected as John Sheridan would have nailed them at half time, and his team is unbeaten in six because they’re a good team.
“It was a good game of football for League Two. We’re disappointed we couldn’t get three points but the reality is I’ll be up tomorrow morning to take care of the under 11s, 13s and 9s in the Academy, and I’ll do it with a smile on my face,” said Whitlow.
Whitlow had asked for full commitment from his side ahead of the game, and he felt he got the desired response from the players as they battled to find a second goal.
“Someone is going to walk into this building and inherit a great group of boys. They were a credit to the football shirt and that’s all you can ask.
“Every single one of them can’t walk in there. We almost had to carry Macca off and Matty Palmer and Lucas Akins ran themselves into the ground.
“Even when the going got tough they were back in there and that’s what professional footballers should do. They’ll be off until Tuesday and then we focus on Barnsley. Someone may be in for Saturday, but they may not be and today was a really fun day,” said the caretaker.
Albion began the game on the front foot as they looked to score early against the Pilgrims, and Whitlow explained he was keen to play to the attacking strengths of the forwards at his disposal.
“We’ve got three great players in (Stuart) Beavon, (Alex) MacDonald and (Lucas) Akins and we don’t want them in our half. Their strengths are up front so we needed to have a go, although if we’d been 5-0 down at half-time I would have been dead.
“I had John Mousinho and Nell Hornby with me and I thought the tempo from both teams was really good, and they deserve a lot of credit for the way they played.
“We tried to get Belly switching the play, but let’s not forget we have some quality players. Beavon has played at a higher level and Lucas Akins thoroughly deserved his man of the match award,” he added.
Whitlow has been assisted this week by senior players Lee Bell, Ian Sharps, John Mousinho and Academy Head of Coaching Neill Hornby, ad Whitlow has praised their efforts over the past week.
“Sharpsy, Belly, Moose and Neill have been great this week and they’re a great group of people to have around.”