A Luke Tandy goal couldn’t prevent the Brewers from a 3-1 defeat to Mansfield Town in the Youth Alliance Cup on Saturday.
The Brewers found themselves two goals down before Tandy scored to halve the deficit. The Stags then added their third late in the game to secure the win.
Professional Development Phase Lead Coach Sam Rose felt that the performance was an improvement on the defeat to Oldham last week, but that the Brewers conceded goals at crucial points in the game:
He said: “Mansfield are always a strong side who are difficult to break down and make you defend your box. We were prepared for the that and largely dealt well with their attacking threat for the duration but conceding in the first 5 minutes meant we had to chase the game right from the start, which gives the other team an advantage in many ways.
“I thought we dominated in lots of aspects but again we haven't been able to score when on top and we have conceded a second goal at a pivotal time in the first half. From there Mansfield were able to control the tempo of the game from all the set-piece situations and through a bit of gamesmanship on their part.
“We had a really good spell at the end of the second half and pulled a goal back. The second half was a stronger performance but we have conceded a goal at again a really important time late in the game when we were pushing for the equaliser.
“In lots of aspects the performance was a big improvement from last weeks defeat to Oldham. Individuals played to a higher level and we were lots better with the ball which was pleasing, but disappointingly we have lost a game that with some more professional defending in spells, we could have got a better outcome. We now have the big tasks of getting results in the remaining 3 games of the cup if we are going to be able to finish top of this group. Similarly, we lost this same fixture last season in the first fixture of the cup group but still went on to progress to the quarter finals, so it can be done. We have to have 2 perspectives on things with this group of players.
"The first is to help the individuals follow in the footsteps of Matty Palmer, Marcus Harness, Ben Fox, Marcus Dinanga, Joe Sbarra, Jayden Cotterill and Jack Hallahan in making the step up to the first team environment in recent seasons and the second is to try to develop a winning squad. That's the approach and we will continue to work hard at striving to creating a winning and successful environment for those future players to develop within."
Watch above for all the highlights from the game.