BURTON missed out on a valuable point as their ENER-G Midlands Premier Division relegation woes mounted with defeat against former National League side Harborne.
The result left the red and greens bottom of the table at the halfway stage of the season.
The hosts could not have made a worse start, conceding the opening goal after just 34 seconds.
Five passes from the push-back ended with goalkeeper Martin Jarvis making a save, but the rebound fell kindly for a Harborne forward to hammer it home.
Burton were jolted into action but then lost Paul Scarborough to a hamstring problem, and with Ash Wheldon already ruled out by injury and skipper Ed Clamp nursing his own hamstring issue, the omens looked bad.
What did happen, though, was Burton put in a concerted effort and once they had worked their way through Harborne’s high press it was very much game on.
The hosts grabbed an equaliser when Rich Stringer’s run and pass found Angus Falconer at the back post and the new recruit continued his impressive start to his Burton career.
Burton looked comfortable with Harborne’s tactics and half-time came and went.
The visitors changed tactics in the second half and tried to press Burton all over the pitch — a useful ploy which saw them get the lead back before their legs tired.
The hosts came back in to the game and it was all red and green for a 15-minute period.
They were rewarded with a goal from James Margetson, who poached from a yard out after Matt Evans had unleashed a reverse-stick piledriver which hit the post.
Harborne spent two minutes contesting the goal, claiming the ball had hit the side netting and defied physics to come back onto the pitch.
The umpires awarded the goal and, at 2-2, it seemed Burton would go on, but a huge decision by the official with 10 minutes to go changed the course of the game.
From a Burton penalty corner which came to nothing, Clamp was adjudged to have knocked the ball away in a bid to play for time and, after Harborne had countered, he was then sin-binned to the shock of both teams and the watching crowd.
The extra man allowed Harborne to press and from a penalty corner routine which had looked poor all game, their skipper fired an unstoppable drag-flick into the top right corner — a finish even he was shocked with.
Burton tried everything they could to get the equaliser but Harborne used their National League knowledge to close the game out.
It was another cruel twist for Burton and it seems in the past few weeks that some major decisions have gone against them at crucial times.
The Midlands Premier Division now breaks for Christmas and Burton know they will have to win at least six games in the second half.
With uncertainty surrounding who will come down from the National League it seems their fate may be out of their hands as three teams could come down at present.
Despite this, confidence remains high and every member of the squad is keen to get back at it in January.
BURTON 2nds travelled to West Warwickshire Sports Club to face Olton and played to the best of their ability against a classy side with National League pedigree and experience, but finished on the wrong end of a 5-0 scoreline.
The game was played at a high tempo throughout, but Olton created the better chances.
Their first came from a short corner when ex-National League drag-flick specialist Tom Pickersgill fizzed one into the top corner, leaving Burton keeper James Morrison somewhat of a spectator.
Fortunately perhaps for Burton, this was his best effort of the game from a corner, but Olton were still the better side.
Morrison was again miffed at Olton’s second goal as a shot hit the base of the post and went in off the back of his pads.
There was, however, little he could do about the third as Burton gave away possession on halfway.
They were slightly slow getting back as Olton put together a slick passing move which seemingly saw all of their players in Burton’s half.
They passed the ball around everyone and eventually into the goal.
Burton tightened up in midfield in the second half and held Olton to two more goals.
One of them was a penalty flick when Morrison spectacularly upended the centre forward, unfortunately without making contact with the ball first.
The second was an individual effort from Pickersgill, who dribbled through the Burton defence and picked his spot from 10 yards out.
Burton can take heart from having competed well against the best in their division and look forward to the visit of Cannock 2nds to Shobnall on Saturday, 11.30am push-back.
A THRILLING match for Burton 4ths ended in them sharing the points with Northampton Saints.
The two teams were separated by just a couple of points and despite Saints starting the contest brightly, Burton dominated much of the match, with wingers Andrew Woolley and Will Killen seeing plenty of possession.
Burton unbelievably missed three open goals and Saints made them pay by scoring twice from their only efforts on target in the first half.
Woolley spared Burton’s blushes by halving the deficit just before the break.
It was more of the same in the second half as Burton attacked with dominance, leaving Saints playing on the break.
Glyn Holland slotted home Burton’s next two penalty corners to give them the lead, but the hosts could not get the extra goal cushion.
Saints continued to fight hard and managed an equaliser, which proved to be the final action of the match.
Burton travel to face third-placed West Bridgford on Saturday.
BURTON 7ths finished off the first half of their inaugural season with a confident 4- 0 victory over Belper 7ths on Saturday.
A goal from Steve Goodfellow after seven minutes settled the home side after some promising early attacks created by Ben Tivey down the right wing.
Two further goals were scored by Jamie Jenkins, who finished off some excellent team passing movements involving Connor Jenkins and Kevin Heath.
The second half was a closer affair, but any Belper attacks were nullified by the close attentions of the defensive unit of Matthew Taylor, Tim Glover, Tom Dean and James Haward, with goalkeeper Toby Laughlin mopping up any stray balls.
A final goal was scored by Heath in the second half after some good individual approach play.
