Burton Albion Professional Development Lead Coach Keith Gilroy felt his side put in a much-improved display as the Young Brewers battled hard but conceded two late goals as they were narrowly beaten 5-3 by Lincoln City on Friday afternoon.
This was certainly an entertaining encounter which saw both teams take control of the game for lengthy periods of the match, but ultimately once Burton went down to 10 men, Lincoln dominated the latter stages of this contest as they scored three late goals which condemned Gilroy’s side to back-to-back defeats.
Despite a disappointing finish to the game there were some positive to take for the Young Brewers. Speaking after the game, Gilroy said. "What was pleasing today compared to game against Doncaster was we responded well to their goals and those moments.
"We’re always talking to the boys to react positively and show good body language and I think we did that today.
"At 10 men I thought we were a good team, and they kept the ball and we had to make a couple of changes as well.
"Character-wise we stuck in it, but it was very difficult at that point get back into the game after conceding so early after a sending off."
Gilroy ultimately felt disappointed with the result because he felt Albion dominated the proceedings for the majority of the opening hour.
“It was disappointing because I thought we had a lot of good play throughout the first half and first 60 minutes and scored some really good goals, but we also defended quite well in our shape.
“It was a really good game up to 60-65 minutes, it was quite an even game, but I thought the sending off probably changed it.
“Looking at it there was a good 10-minute period probably before that were we were going at it.”
A scoreline of 5-3 was certainly an unflattering one for the Albion but the most important thing is that these young players bounce back and learn from their mistakes as they develop as footballers.