MEGAN Pittman’s early goal wasn’t enough for Burton Albion who recorded a 1-1 draw with relegation battlers Coundon Court at Pirelli Stadium’s 3G on Sunday.
Unlike the recent County Cup quarter-final between the teams, the Brewers failed to take their abundance of chances and bridge the gap between themselves and the other sides in the bottom-half of the league.
After a dominant start, the scoring was opened in the 16th minute by PITTMAN who, following a corner, was in the right place at the right time as the ball fell to her feet from a flick-on, the defender easily tucking it home from a yard to give Albion the advantage.
The Brewers’ joy would be short lived however as just eight minutes later, Coundon would equalise thanks to Liv BROWN, whose sensational effort rose high above keeper Alice Langstone, who was narrowly unable to get to the effort, levelling the scores and bringing the game back to square one as a result.
From there, the half became a hotly-contested and even affair that saw both sides threaten one after the other, but very little happened in this spell, meaning the teams went into the break level and anticipating a second-half with all to play for.
HALF-TIME: BURTON ALBION 1-1 COUNDON COURT
Much like the 45 minutes that preceded it, the second half started with Albion dominating the possession and looking the more likely of the two teams to score, but the Coundon defence proved stubborn and difficult to break down, with a good effort from Elisha Gourlay on the hour mark being the best of few clear-cut chances for the Brewers.
Despite some promising contributions from the likes of Beth Naqwi, Emily Gillott, and substitute Hajrah Mahmood, these all proved to be in vain as Albion were made to settle for a frustrating draw after an uneventful half against a side that they had disposed of so comfortably just weeks prior to this game.
FULL-TIME: BURTON ALBION 1-1 COUNDON COURT
Brewers manager Tommy Booth made an honest assessment of his side’s performance, pointing out the problems that prevented what could have been a comfortable victory.
He said: “It was nowhere near good enough, we created a lot of problems when we had the ball which is bizarre because that’s normally not like us.
“I don’t think the shape or the tactics win you the game when we couldn’t really string three or four passes together, and the quality on the ball wasn’t really anywhere near the standards that we set.”
Albion: Langstone; Pittman (Mahmood 55), Richards, Denny, Jarvis, Fray (Lilley 86) ; Naqwi, Drinkhall (Thomas 89) , Gillott, Gourlay; Lilley (Hoyle 55)
Goals: Albion - Pittman (16). Coundon - Brown (24)