BURTON slumped to another home defeat — this time against fellow strugglers South Nottingham — and now sit bottom of the ENER-G Midlands Premier Division table with a muchneeded change in fortunes required.
With possibly the strongest side available to them, with the exception of Jamie Cooper, who is still to play this season due to injury, the game started ominously for Burton.
They lost skipper Ed Clamp to a hamstring injury and then fell behind to a contentious goal — the strike coming from outside the D but being allowed by the umpires after they had convened.
Burton failed to ignite, but should have had an equaliser when Mark Northcott chose to pass instead of shooting and allowing the Notts defence to recover.
With the game very attritional in midfield, it would take something from someone to spark the hosts into life, but Burton have been very flat this season and the flowing, passing hockey seems to have evaded them while, at times, they have looked slightly star-struck in the higher division.
Ash Wheldon was doing his best to ignite a fightback and with Rich Stringer turning in his game of the season, something had to give.
It did — at the other end — as Burton, pushing forward, were caught twice on the counter-attack.
Down 3-0 but making the running, the startling statistic of only one penalty corner in two games does not sit well with the Burton management team.
When they did get it, they proved how deadly they are as Northcott fired home after his initial flick had been saved.
Burton were on the receiving end of two yellow cards for mere petulance as tempers flared through frustration.
Despite being bottom of the pile, a run of victories will see them make big strides up a table which is taking on a very twotiered look.
Coventry & North Warwicks host Burton this weekend and the game takes a huge edge as the red and greens can move above their opponents with a win.
Unavailability hits again, though, so a squad reshuffle will be needed.
There is no need to panic yet for the red and greens, but they do need to get the smiles back on their faces and start to play like the Midlands Division One champions they are.
BURTON 7ths continued their impressive form by beating West Bridgeford 7-3 at home on Saturday.
The young side, with a sprinkling of older heads, took the game to the visitors from the push-back, and from their first attack, worked the ball down the right
flank through Andrew Woolley, who fed Steve Morrison inside the D.
He slipped the ball to Jason King at the back post and he swept the ball home.
This set the tone for the rest of the first half, with King completing his hat-trick and Morrison also getting in on the act.
Burton did not have it all their own way, though, and were indebted to Toby Laughlin, who made some excellent saves in goal when the defence was breached.
The second half saw the visitors force their way back into the game to bring the score to 4-2, but Burton always looked dangerous on the attack and with Connor Jenkins pulling the strings in midfield, they scored two further goals through Woolley and Morrison.
Despite West Bridgeford scoring a third, King slammed home his fourth and Burton’s seventh to wrap up victory.
