BURTON Albion Professional Development Phase Lead Coach Sam Rose was encouraged by how the Young Brewers performed in their EFL Youth Alliance Cup semi-final against Preston North End, despite suffering a 2-1 defeat.
After producing some impressive results across the season to reach the latter stages of the competition, Albion’s journey came to an end in the North West following a game of fine margins.
Summarising the match not long after full-time, Rose said: “I thought we could’ve won the game based on some of the chances we created. Preston are a good side; we knew that coming into the game because we’d watched three or four of their games, and they’ve not lost for a long time.
“We managed to get on top and limited them to very few chances in the first half, and we then expected them to come at us in the second half. The first five or ten minutes were always going to be really important, and we conceded a goal in that time, which was disappointing.
“I think the lads did okay; we weren’t great with the ball, we’re definitely a better footballing side than that, but I thought without the ball we worked hard and we limited them to few chances.
“I think if we’d seen out those 15 minutes at the start of the second half then it might’ve been a different result, but it wasn’t to be.”
Rose was eager to praise Burton further for their display in the first 45 minutes, with his only regret being that they only managed to put one goal past Preston goalkeeper James Pradic.
“I thought we managed the first half well,” he said. “The shape that we set up with gave us some control and gave us an opportunity to get up the pitch and stretch the pitch.
“We were direct, but I thought that worked, and I thought that was gonna work today with the type of players we had at the top end.
“When Max [Raine] went through down the side and forced the keeper to make a save with his volley, I thought that was a chance to score and make it two-nil.
“That would’ve been a much bigger turnaround for them in the second half, so it’s something for us to reflect on and learn from.”
Rose also wished to highlight the dedication of the Burton players across the season so far, with previous victories against Walsall, Port Vale and Salford City helping them to reach the semi-final.
He stated: “I think the lads need congratulating for getting to this point. We got out of the cup group which is one challenge in itself, I thought we were excellent against Salford, and today it could have gone differently.
“This is the furthest we’ve gone in the Youth Alliance Cup competition in my time at the club, so the lads deserve plenty of praise.
“We wish Preston all the very best, and I’m sure they’ll have every chance of beating Bolton [Wanderers] on Saturday in what’ll be a local derby for them.
“It’s great that we’ve got to this point because we’re in the business of developing players. The lads will be disappointed today but when they get into knockout competitions and situations again in the future, they’ll be better prepared.”