Brewing up a stinker

Brewing up a stinker

Even a convincing win against lowly Burton Albion wouldn’t have absolved Town from the ignominy of defeat at Valley Parade seven days earlier.

That derby capitulation crystallised the suspicion that Town is a collection of individual talent significantly underperforming under a rookie manager, whose commitment to the coaching manual is looking increasingly dogmatic.

After a lethargic first hour, with far too little invention, the hosts were grateful for two sharp saves by Nicholls, an excellent block by Ledson, and a headed miss by Beesley as the Brewers defied their underdog status with a first-half performance that deserved more reward.

Other than Kasumu, who provided virtually all of Town’s energy, too many in blue and white underperformed. Their stodgy, mechanical approach rarely looked like producing a breakthrough, with the promising Alves barely allowed any space or freedom by the solid visitors, while Castledine, now getting starts, had too little influence.

Up front, Taylor was isolated, and while May gets through a prodigious amount of work, surely it is time for him to be played as the out-and-out striker he is.

It would have been interesting to see how Town might have responded had Burton taken the lead they deserved. Maybe it would have woken them from their torpor, but a hugely disappointing first half was a soggy mess as the expensively assembled squad, for the second Saturday running, struggled to match the tenacity and controlled aggression of an actual team.

Underachievement in the first 45 minutes is now a feature of the season, not a bug, and it was to be expected that Town would improve after the break—and this they eventually did. To an extent.

Taylor latched onto an excellent long ball from Feeney just before the hour but rushed his shot, wasting a very good opportunity. It was, however, the beginning of home dominance which, in normal circumstances, would have brought victory, but Burton’s resilience proved exemplary to the end.

It is to damn with faint praise to report that the Terriers finally removed their heads from their fundaments and sufficiently raised their performance to offer some threat against a side who will, hopefully successfully, be fighting relegation this season, just as they did last.

Following Taylor’s botched opportunity, he hit a weak shot after a promising break with two men to his left isolating one defender. A poor decision, possibly born of frustration at his earlier miss, but hardly helpful to the cause.

Castledine then missed the next opportunity after good work by Kasumu and May, and an intelligent leave by Taylor left him open on the right. Though a little wide, and with two defenders converging upon him, the Chelsea loanee needed to shoot across the goal from whence the ball came but sliced well wide.

By now, Town’s pressure was as intense as the persistent rain and, admirably, Burton were straining every sinew to shut out their hosts. At last, the game had delivered some entertainment.

Completely spent as an attacking force, the visitors somehow managed to keep the ball out of the net in a frantic finale.

First, Roughan hit a perfect shot from just outside the area which was somehow blocked on the line. Low should have scored from two yards out with a header from a corner, but an instinctive save by Collins kept the game scoreless, before another excellent Roughan effort went narrowly wide.

The final piece of brilliance by the Burton defence saw Hartridge clear an excellent Radulovic header off the line, and the game ended goalless.

Though the litany of chances in the last half-hour appears to point to the bad fortune that can happen during a campaign, it in fact just emphasises the current malaise of Grant and his squad.

Unable or unwilling to settle on a first eleven, the slow starts which afflict the Terriers may be the result of lacking cohesion through constant swapping and changing.

Developing partnerships across the pitch seems to be a slow process, and there is little evidence they are even close to being achieved. Perhaps patience is required as new players like Alves, Redmond, Castledine (to an extent) and, still to come, McGuane settle in.

An inexperienced manager overseeing a virtually brand-new squad isn’t going to be without issues, but the dirge served up in the first hour against the Brewers cannot be excused, and the assumed easy points were deservedly dropped.