BLUE SQUARE PREMIER - SUNDAY 19th AUGUST 2007

BURTON ALBION

1

OXFORD UNITED

2

ATT: 2259

CTMD view: There is certainly no disgrace in losing to Oxford United but it is a travesty to go in front and then to concede an equaliser within 60 seconds. The Brewers have let a goal lead slip in all of the first three league games, and as Oxford ruthlessly showed, it is not always possible to produce a York style comeback.

Defensive errors were again to blame for the goals conceded and with no replacements to bolster the back line, the threadbare nature of the squad is already a cause for concern.

The goal scored tally of 7 is good (it took seven games last season to equal that total), but 7 goals conceded mean that only Kidderminster Harriers have a leakier defence.

The games continue to come thick and fast in August and September and Nigel Clough must start thinking about reinforcements if the Brewers are going to keep pace with the leading clubs.

Managers view:

Nigel Clough - In an interview with the official Burton Albion website manager Nigel Clough expressed his disappointment at conceding a goal just seconds after scoring the opener. The manager remained tight lipped regarding the performance of the officials but felt that many decisions went against his team.

Jim Smith - Talking to the Oxford Mail, U's manager Jim Smith was pleased with his teams performance, "They did battle, all of them, and that's six points from the first three games. Obviously you want more, but having lost the second game away from home it was a big, big result for us."

Fans view:

(Oxford United) The game: was close and I felt at 1-1 the next goal would win it, whoever  scored it. Our penalty probably was fair, but Burton should have had one later when our striker Robinson hacked down one of your players, it was up our end so maybe we intimidated the officials! The ref wasn't too bad bad but the linos were poor!

The atmosphere: was coming mostly from our end, although a section of your fans to the right of me were getting involved. It's fair to say the opposite end to us had a lot of flags!

Food was quite nice and not overly expensive (compared to other grounds). I went for cheeseburger and chips (but they ran out of cheese!)

Drink, cant say much about this as I only went the Beech Inn for about 5 minutes. Not a bad pub, again not too expensive compared to other places.

Your fans were a nice bunch. I played against some of them in the morning in a supporters match which was played in good spirit (not a bad challenge in sight!) The score was 19-3 to Oxford. (CTMD - With that score it sounds like there wasn't any challenges from the Burton players!)