Burton Albion v Crawley Town
TEAM NEWS: Unsurprisingly, Burton Albion caretaker manager Gary Rowett named an unchanged side for the visit of Crawley Town having seen his side win their first match of 2012 on Tuesday night – a 1-0 defeat of Gillingham which ended a run of 16 games without a win.
Crawley were without Claude Davis and Pablo Mills, who were sent off for their part in the brawl which marred the end of their game at Bradford City in midweek.
Burton-born Dean Howell started at left-back for the Red Devils.
BREWERS (4-4-2): Atkins; Corbett, Stanton, Austin, Webster; Maghoma, Bolder, Dyer, Phillips; Richards, Pearson; subs: T James, Ainsworth, Taylor, Clucas, Ada.
RED DEVILS (4-4-2): Kuipers; Simpson, McFadzean, Dempster, Howell; Davies, Akpan, Bulman, Torres; Clarke, Alexander; subs: Watt, Neilson, Shearer, Cummings, L James.
HALF-TIME: The visitors were not too far away from breaking the deadlock inside the opening minute.
Goalkeeper Michel Kuipers’ clearance was missed by Gary Alexander, but was picked up by strike partner Billy Clarke.
He back-heeled the ball back into the path of Alexander, whose drive from the edge of the box was just wide of the target.
The Red Devils had another chance on five minutes when Brewers skipper Nathan Stanton had a clearance charged down by Howell.
The ball fell kindly for Clarke, who crossed to the far post, but right winger Scott Davies fired back across goal but well wide.
It was all the visitors early on and on 10 minutes, midfielder Dannie Bulman tried his luck from outside the box, with his effort deflected over the bar.
The hosts’ first chance came on 15 minutes.
Andy Corbett’s cross from the right was aimed at Jimmy Phillips at the far post.
The winger seemed to be pushed, but the ball eventually dropped to him and his shot from a tight angle was cleared off the line by centre-back Kyle McFadzean.
Back came Crawley and after Jacques Maghoma had fouled McFadzean, Howell touch the free-kick, 20 yards out, to Davies, whose drive was tipped over by Albion keeper Ross Atkins.
Five minutes later and Clarke fired a shot wide from the edge of the box.
In stoppage time, Maghoma tried his luck from distance, but his effort was straight at Kuipers.
BURTON ALBION 0 CRAWLEY TOWN 0
FULL TIME: Both sides struggled to create chances in the second half, but the Brewers were more in the game.
Albion’s first change on 77 minutes, with winger Lionel Ainsworth replacing Pearson.
The Crawley bench were incensed moments later as they claimed Stanton handled Howell’s low cross as he slid in to try and block it, but the referee was having none of it.
With eight minutes to go, Maghoma let fly from distance with a shot Kuipers could only parry, but no Albion player was on hand to capitalise on the rebound.
BURTON ALBION 0, CRAWLEY TOWN 0
