GARY Mills praised another gritty performance from his Brewers team after they notched up a 1-0 win against Shrewsbury.
A Bez Lubala goal was enough to make it back-to-back home wins and seven points out of nine over Christmas.
The caretaker manager said: “The application of the boys over the Christmas period has been outstanding and the will to defend the goal as a unit is something we are really proud of.
“The game played out as we thought and Shrewsbury are effective at what they do so it’s a huge credit to our players that they got the three points.
“The early goal helped, and we were really pleased for Bez. The work rate and unselfishness he brings to the team is fantastic and he deserved that goal. He has led the line really well and sometimes it can be a thankless task up there.”
Mills was only disappointed that his team didn’t make the game more comfortable by adding a second goal.
He said: “We want our wide players to go and create. They took people on, put in good crosses but we didn’t quite commit enough bodies to get on the end of them. We should have put the game to bed, and we just needed the opposite wide player tracking the back stick and then we would have had two tap ins. But that’s something we will feed back to the players.
“But the lads put bodies on the line again and I didn’t see us conceding. The spirit and togetherness couldn’t be questioned.”
Albion now face a difficult away game at Bolton on New Year’s Day.
Mills said: “We will be prepared and organised. They will get tomorrow off and then will be in on Sunday to prepare a game plan for a really tough side.”
The Brewers lost Ryan Sweeney to a dead leg and Joe Powell struggled with a sore foot throughout the game and both will be doubts for Bolton.
Mills said: “Ryan stiffened up at half-time. He’s icing it now and it will be touch and go for Monday.
“It was touch and go with Joe this evening and he played while only 85 per cent fit and it's a huge credit to him that he wanted to be out there. We were grateful he got through the game.”