Sam Hughes the hero as Burton Albion comeback to defeat Lincoln City

A young Burton Albion outfit put Lincoln City to the sword at the LNER Stadium as they fought back from a goal down to claim a deserved 2-1 victory.

Throughout a windy afternoon, Burton used their ‘know-how’ to pepper the Lincoln goalmouth from Tom Hamer’s long throw that wreaked havoc amongst the home defence, complemented by some crisp passing and running with the ball from William Kokolo and Daniel Jebbison.

Burton failed to capitalise on a number of first-half opportunities, including some heroics from Imps goalkeeper Josh Griffiths to keep the scores level.

Deji Oshilaja’s tame effort on 15 minutes from the edge of the box looked harmless enough to deal with, but as Sheffield United loanee Daniel Jebbison got a touch to redirect the ball, Griffiths did well to get down low to his right and keep the ball out.

Lewis Moult had a super opportunity to put the Brewers ahead once more but he could not get a firm enough contact on Hamer’s in-swinging cross.

Conor Shaughnessy came closest to breaking the deadlock on the stroke of half-time. Hamer’s long throw into the Lincoln box caused problems, and with the ball only partially cleared, the Burton midfielder’s volley was palmed away by Griffiths at full stretch.

Burton quickly found themselves a goal down just after the break despite the pressure applied on the Lincoln goal.

Good approach play down the Burton right saw Cohen Bramall burst towards the byline, and although Sam Garratt appeared to get something on his cross, John Marquis was expertly placed at the back post to apply the finishing touch to put the Imps ahead.

Whilst that should have been the catalyst for Lincoln to go on and win the game, Burton were not lying down and battled their way back into proceedings just six minutes later.

Another Hamer long throw was not dealt with in the box once more by the Imps defence, and as the ball pinged around, Joe Powell was alert to cooly convert past Griffiths to bring the Brewers level.

Burton continued to look for a winner with Zokolo and Jebbison producing excellent pieces of play. Griffiths did well to get something on Zokolo’s delightful delivery across the six-yard box with a Burton head a whisker away from connecting.

Jebbison then went on a surging run to show the Lincoln midfield a clean pair of heels but Zokolo had strayed offside when put through on goal and away from his suitors.

However, Burton got their reward on 80 minutes to seal their win with a soft goal to concede from a Lincoln perspective. Their defence did not track a deep corner as Sam Hughes got momentum on his runner to nod past the helpless Griffiths.

Brewers manager Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink was delighted with his side’s performance and character to fight back and deal with the weather.

“I’m very proud of my team today. To come here and play the way we played, and be brave, it’s not an easy place.

“We had a lot of young players today and they held their own. We contained them and it was a little bit of a blow when we conceded, but it didn’t keep us down.

“Their goalkeeper made some incredible saves and I had to say to him afterwards ‘really well done’, but we were brilliant.

“We were front-footed, we looked really good. We created good chances in the first half and we could have easily scored two goals. I think we were the better team.”

Imps manager Michael Appleton was unhappy with how his side conceded the two goals in surrendering their lead. He was realistic in his post-match assessment that his side are very much in a relegation fight.

“We are where we are for a reason because we’ve not made the right decisions in the right areas of the pitch, and you put yourself under pressure by doing that.

“No one’s getting carried away in that dressing room, we know we’re in for a scrap and that scrap is going to continue for the next 15 or 20 games that are left.

“We’re ready and prepared for it. We’re certainly in a better position than we were six weeks ago from a mentality, performance and form point of view.”

However, Appleton remained optimistic that his side is beginning to create opportunities in front of goal. With the arrival of John Marquis, they have a striker that thrives on service and he has already registered his second goal in as many appearances.

“We brought in someone to be there in that six-yard box when the ball is coming into the box and he was. He’s got his reward from gambling to think that the ball will be there and I’m delighted for him.

“Even after the goals we got into some fantastic positions in the box but just picked wrong choices and were poor in our execution. We’ve been good for five or six, maybe even seven games now and the only critical thing I can say about the players is how we dealt with the set plays.”

With a crucial run of fixtures coming up in February, Lincoln will find themselves up against fellow strugglers Morecambe, Fleetwood, Gillingham and Doncaster Rovers, bidding to ease their relegation worries.

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