Brewers need a breather after fresh Imps run off with the points

Difficult week for Albion as they take only one point from two home games

The best thing that can be said about Burton Albion’s 2-0 defeat at home to Lincoln City is that there is a lot of the League One season left.

That is, a lot of time to forget this game and this week, one in which the Brewers targeted six points from a long-awaited return to League One action at the Pirelli Stadium and finished up with one.

In some respects, Saturday’s result was an accident waiting to happen. Patched up even more than usual because of injuries, Burton were playing their sixth match in 19 days against a Lincoln side who had played one match in the same period, the best part of three weeks ago.

Were the Imps absolutely bursting to get back into action? You bet they were and they delivered a performance full of determination, organisation and swift, sharp passing.

Frankly, it was like watching one of the Brewers’ better away performances. They pressed relentlessly without the ball, threw themselves in the way of crosses and shots and they broke forward decisively and inventively.

The doom-mongers, waiting to pounce, who saw this as a terrible Burton performance are way off the mark, their eyes clouded by the second disappointing result of the week. There was plenty of endeavour about Albion and a good few chances created. But this was a tired performance and the first week without a midweek game for a while will be welcome.

Stats can turn around quickly, too. The Brewers went into this one with one defeat in seven League games. The alternative sequence now is one win in six but it has certainly been no help that they have been so strung out, with half of the last 10 games having been in cup competitions. That, at least, will start to ease.

The extent to which Burton, missing John Brayford, Oliver Sarkic, Reece Hutchinson and John-Joe O’Toole, were stretched was emphasised by a bench featuring two goalkeepers - an odd move - two others learning their trade and the fitness coach. The only two used, Joe Sbarra and David Templeton, were the only two likely to be.

With all of those circumstances in place, the last thing the Brewers needed to do was concede an early goal but they did, to a second free header from a corner in a week.

Colin Daniel, who endured a difficult afternoon, gave the ball away as Lincoln won an immediate corner, then a second, and Harry Anderson ran across the area to glance in a header from it. The goal gave Lincoln a lift and something to hang on to.

It took Burton 10 minutes or so to get any kind of passing going, a spell during which former loanee Jake Hesketh was booked for diving as he avoided a Jake Buxton challenge.

Liam Boyce, running from 40 yards out, drove a shot wide from just outside the box but there was little for a travelling contingent from his old club in Northern Ireland, Cliftonville, to cheer.

Albion were buzzing around keenly but misplacing too many passes and Ryan Edwards sent a shot wildly out of the ground before being booked for delaying a throw-in, a cheap yellow card which now brings him a suspension.

One promising break found Boyce offside when Scott Fraser played him in and when he was next clear, and onside, his shot was turned away by Lincoln keeper Josh Vickers.

Nathan Broadhead had started but the Everton loanee limped off with a tight hamstring after 33 minutes.

Before half-time, Fraser jinked into a yard of space and pulled a shot wide from 20 yards, while Buxton was foiled by an offside flag as he got a foot to a free kick from the left and sent it goalwards.

Lincoln began the second half with a flurry of corners but soon the Brewers were pressing again and Templeton, nicking the ball from a defender, had a shot pushed away by Vickers.

Daniel’s most effective ball in from the left of the game was poked wide by Lucas Akins at the near post, an awkward chance, but the Imps had the bit between their teeth and began threatening on the counter, with the scorer, Andrews, looking particularly dangerous on the right wing.

As time began to run out, there was a shout for a penalty as Fraser went to ground in a scramble in the box but it did not look conclusive.

Burton’s frustration was summed up early in stoppage time by Stephen Quinn. The Irishman had again been their stand-out player but he scythed Anderson down on the right touchline and the free kick led to Jorge Grant hitting a shot against the bar.

Lincoln confirmed the win their efforts had deserved in the last minute of stoppage time when Anderson broke again down the right and pulled the ball back for former Burton loanee Tyler Walker to turn in.

The Brewers need a breather. This week, they have one - and then it is a trip to leaders Wycombe Wanderers on Saturday.