Lee Johnson sees draw with Burton as building block for Fleetwood

Posted Sunday, September 24, 2023 by PA

Fleetwood boss Lee Johnson was the happier of the two managers as he secured the first point of his tenure with a battling 1-1 draw at fellow strugglers Burton.

After a 3-0 defeat to Oxford in his first game last weekend, Johnson was pleased to see his work on the training ground paying off.

“It was better today,” he said. “It was progressive and the stuff that we worked on during the week, the lads worked their socks off to try and buy into it and that transitioned into the game, which was important.”

Fleetwood fell behind when Joe Powell struck for Albion after 17 minutes, the midfielder netting after seeing his penalty saved by Jay Lynch following Ben Heneghan’s foul on Mark Helm.

But an instant replay from Junior Quitirna, a rare moment of quality in the game, salvaged a point.

“We weren’t without chances,” Johnson added. “We had some good chances particularly in the first half and we defended much better.

“Burton test you a lot in terms of putting those balls into the box from all angles. We just need to keep building. What has gone has gone and now we have to move forward and that, today, was at least a start in terms of spirit.

“Do I like drawing? Absolutely not but it gives us another week to work towards what is a big home game.”

And the new Town boss was pleased with the contribution of his goalscorer and fellow youngster Promise Omichere, a handful on the wing.

“He is a talented young player,” he said of Quitirna. “I like my teams to have that pace on the counter-attack and him along with Promise both showed that today.”

Burton manager Dino Maamria was more frustrated that his side could not build on their midweek victory over high-flying Port Vale to make it back-to-back wins.

“We are disappointed,” he said. “Our performance wasn’t at the level that we expected today but if I am honest the players gave so much on Tuesday.

“I scratched my head today whether to stay with the same team or freshen things up but I felt we were that good on Tuesday it was a risk to change it.”

Maamria’s other frustration was conceding so quickly after hitting the front and felt his side should have done better.

“They scored a great goal. For some reason we were rushing to take a throw in after we had just scored and we just gave it away for them to counter-attack,” he said.

“It was madness really. When you score it is important, for the next five minutes to keep your head on and stay in the game and then go from there. Although it was a brilliant finish, we gifted them that goal.”