Dino Maamria knows there is still work for Burton to do after breaking duck

Posted Sunday, September 18, 2022 by PA

New Burton boss Dino Maamria was delighted with the performance as his side picked up their first victory of the season with a thoroughly deserved 2-0 win at Exeter.

Two goals in six minutes, the first drilled in by Deji Oshilaja in the 63rd minute and the second by Davis Keillor-Dunn, ensured the Brewers of their win and Maamria’s first since taking charge earlier this month following the resignation of Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink.

“We totally dominated the first half and the only thing we didn’t do was score,” he said.

“In the second half we were on the front foot, the lads have been awesome the last two weeks and the reaction to me has been nothing short of outstanding.

“Everybody that works at the football club deserves this, it is a total togetherness. We have got to keep finding reasons to win games.

“The biggest thing today was managing the start of each half and the five minutes after we scored. That was vital as I didn’t want heads to go down or we get over excited when we score. We were quite comfortable and the team was efficient today.

“The clean sheet was massive for us, something we have been talking about. Our defenders put in a lot of blocks and defended the box well.

“This will help us going forward, there are going to be ups and downs. We have not cracked it, it is just one win and we are still bottom of the league. There is still a lot of work to do.”

Exeter manager Matt Taylor felt his side lacked the intent to defend at all costs and lamented Burton’s two goals.

“We are obviously disappointed to lose the game,” Taylor said.

“We weren’t really able to meet the ball anywhere on the pitch and if you are not able to do that, you are not able to defend your box and that was probably exposed in terms of the defensive aspects of our box defending.

“You have to give the opposition credit. I don’t think it is a weakness for ourselves but, in the last couple of games, it has been exposed.

“You can talk about personnel missing, but you have to find a way of getting there first and work from our goal out because we didn’t do that at any point in the afternoon.

“It meant that, every time that happened in the first half, it was nervy and then we got punished in the second.

“It’s all about mindset. Their intent to go and meet the ball was in stark contrast to any of our players and I know we were without Sam Stubbs, Tim Dieng and Cheick Diabate.

“If we want to have any chance this season, other people have to stand up and be counted when those players are missing.”