Dino Maamria rues sloppy first-half spell as Burton suffer opening loss

Posted Sunday, August 06, 2023 by PA

Burton boss Dino Maamria rued a sloppy first-half passage of play as his side fell to a 2-0 defeat to Blackpool in the opening weekend of League One action.

Shayne Lavery struck in the 19th and 25th minutes to hand the Tangerines an opening victory on Saturday afternoon, a strong response for Neil Critchley’s side after their relegation from the Championship last season.

And, despite an encouraging opening 15 minutes, Maamria rued his side’s inability to regroup after conceding the first goal at Bloomfield Road.

He said: “We expected them to start on the front foot, which they did, and we managed that really well.

“And when they got into the game, we conceded the first goal when we defended a corner and we didn’t squeeze up the pitch. It was a silly deflection which happens.

“Mistakes happen but the big one for us was something that we always speak about. Whenever we score or concede we’ve got to manage the next five minutes, and we didn’t manage that five minutes after we conceded.

“Two goals in about five minutes, when we come to places like this and we give away two goals like that it’s always going to be difficult.

“I thought in the second half we created some chances and if we’d scored one of the two that we had it might have changed the momentum of the game. Josh Gordon had a one-on-one and we had a couple of those.

“We need to be more clinical when we come to places like this because Blackpool are a good team, there’s no doubt about it.”

It was ultimately a strong start for returning Blackpool boss Critchley, though he was not pleased with an at times unconvincing second-half display.

“I thought in the first half we were very good, scored two goals and had another couple of good opportunities as well,” added Critchley.

“We were comfortable and then in the second half it was almost as if we’d forgotten how to win games. I think we allowed them back into the game, we got a bit complacent and we weren’t ruthless enough at the other end of the pitch.

“We could have finished the game off, so we need to improve on our second-half performance, and when I’ve calmed down I’ll reflect on it being three points and a clean sheet.

“I think that’s important psychologically for the group. After last season we needed to get a good start, get the feelgood factor back.

“Shayne does what Shayne does, he’s a goalscorer, he’s a real threat and I’m delighted for him. He’s a selfless boy who works for the team, very humble, and we just have to provide the right style of play to suit him.”