DINO Maamria said he believes today’s defeat at Scunthorpe United is a good wake-up call for his side going into next weekend’s opener away at Blackpool.
Albion lost 2-1 at Glanford Park this afternoon, as Josh Gordon’s first half equaliser was cancelled out by a late Jacob Butterfield strike. Maamria says it wouldn’t be fair though to get carried away by the result and that his side are in a good place heading into the Sky Bet League One season.
“Today, the main thing was about making sure that we had a fully fit side by the end of the 90 minutes. Apart from Rekeem, who we was just about to bring off before he needed to come off, who is hopefully ok, everyone else is good.
“So the first part was about looking after everybody and their fitness, the second part was about the performance. It’s been a really good exercise for us today because we came up against a different type of team. As I’ve said before, we selected our pre-season opponents who play different styles of football.
“We came up against a good side in Scunthorpe, who aren’t really a Conference North team. They gave us that fight, that desire, and did the basics of football. It was a real test and we came up short – it’s a good wake-up call for us.
“To think we’ve had some good performances this pre-season and played some good football, scored some good goals, but I’ve just told the lads in the dressing room that ultimately we are Burton Albion and we have to always play with intensity, energy and commitment. It’s the basic fundamentals of everything we do, and when we don’t do that we will come up short against anybody. It doesn’t matter how talented you are, but if you don’t show that desire and commitment then you will come up short and that’s what we did today.
“We could have scored a few goals today, at times, especially in the first half I thought some of our football was good, but it’s a good wake-up call. I am not going to react to the performance today but I do think we’ll see our strongest team next week. I am here to improve players and I’ve got to be patient with players. I have no doubt that our players will be ready and up to speed next weekend at Blackpool.”