Burton Albion 4-1 Rotherham United
The Brewers ran out 4-1 winners and put in a thoroughly professional performance when they faced Rotherham United on Saturday.The home side’s intensity was evident from the kick off and it soon paid dividends as Dylan Garnett turned his man down and drove a low ball into the box, one that was expertly finished by Joe Sbarra.
While Burton were creating a lot through their build up play it would be fair to say that they had a defensive masterclass to thank for going in ahead at the break. The full backs, Michael Pearson and Joe Hunt, nullified Rotherham’s threat from out wide by breaking up play and often recovering well as well as starting new moves, while Brad Smith and Jack O’Brien cut out any threat from central positions.
In terms of individual contribution, the second half was something of the Marcus Dinanga show. The striker had already trouble the Rotherham defence with a driving run which culminated with a tame effort on goal before he doubled the Burton lead. Dinanga benefited from some tenacious work from Mirza Sedjic , who won the ball in the middle of the park and found Dinanga, the striker drove at the opposition defence and fired home past the keeper.
Dinanga then immediately returned the favour as he capitalised on some poor passing straight from the restart and played in Sedjic, who then put the game out of site with a smart finish from inside the box.
The fourth goal came from a well worked set piece. Ben Fox whipped in a free kick and Garnett, who had put in an admirably hard working performance that, at times, lacked end product, flicked the ball on to Dinanga, who added his second, and Burton’s fourth, from close range. Â
Fox had spread the play well all day and he dictated the tempo as he proved to be integral in the Brewers’ attacking force as they looked to pressure and closeout the game in the Rotherham half, however, Burton could not hold out for a clean sheet as after a late corner caused chaos, the ball was turned home in a crowd of players to at least salvage some pride for the Yorkshire side.
Manager Lee Glover was delighted with his side’s performance despite the late slip up: “I’m very happy, I thought we controlled the game, I thought the lads did really well, created a lot of chances and moved the ball well, you look at the game, and in particular the second half, we switched it up a gear which is very pleasing.
“We played with a high intensity throughout the whole game, all credit to the lads, we conceded in the 96th minute but that was the only disappointing aspect of today’s game.”