Hereford United came away from The Pirelli Stadium well beaten after a performance that left the fans wondering where the next point would come from.
Manager Davey announced a side that excluded central defender Michael Townsend who was injured. O'Neil Thompson was drafted into the back division along with Richard Rose to form what was, for a large part of the first half, a five man defence. A new strike pairing of Manset and newcomer Amadou Rabihou was to be supplied by a central trio of Lunt, McQuilken and Colbeck. Former Bull Tony James started on the bench for The Brewers.
The intention may have been to play 3-5-2 but from the off, the Burton pressure quickly push the wing-backs into a flat five. McQuilkin and Lunt were both on the receiving end of hefty tackles in the opening skirmishes with Lunt in particular, unhappy with the referee's leniency. He did have a point with Kovacs having been yellow carded after just five minutes for a challenge that was no worse. Rabihou lost possession on the halfway line and Burton quickly switched the play with a diagonal pass to Harrad but Bartlett was alert to the danger and tipped the effort over the bar. Kenny Lunt then found Colbeck on the right but the wide-man slipped just as he was set to cross the ball and was only able to slice behind for a goal kick. On twenty minutes Tony James replaced the injured Nathan Stanton.
After an initial pounding from the home team, The Bulls had worked their way into the game albeit with, still, a fair bit of long ball which was gleefully swallowed up by the likes of Stanton, James and a domineering Darren Moore. Colbeck saw a shot sneak wide of the upright after he combined with Rabihou and a splendid crossfield ball from Richard Rose provided a chance for Rabihou to feed Manset who fired just wide but it was Burton who took the lead just before a half-hour mark. Quilks had been penalised about 35 yards out and when the free kick came in, Thompson failed to make a meaningful challenge for the ball and it fell to Richard Walker who, with a little help from his forearm, controlled the ball and fired passed Bartlett.
Before The Bulls had time to regroup, they were two down and again, Thompson was at the heart of the problem this time failing to anticipate Harrad’s movement and allowing the Brewer's striker a clear run into the box to slot passed Bartlett. On 34 minutes, Rabihou tested Legzdins in a rare strike before Thompson again caused panic in his own defence when he didn’t pick up his attacker after a part clearance. By half time, The Bulls faithful were calling for a taxi for Thompson.
HT Burton 2 HUFC 0
The halftime prayers of the visiting support were answered when Thompson failed to appear for the second period and Davey switched, at long last, to a fairly conventional 4-4-2 adding Dominik Werling in a wide left role. However, any hopes of salvaging much from the game were dashed just a couple of minutes after the restart when Burton flooked a third as a deflected shot left Bartlett helpless and the ball settled in the back of the net. From there on, Richard Rose combined well with Kovacs in central defence as he had done in pre-season and The Bulls finally started to keep some decent possession without humping the ball half the length of the pitch.
Kovacs grazed the bar with a header from a Valentine free kick, Rabihou missed a decent chance and Ryan Green lifted an effort over the bar following a goalmouth scramble before Davey dragged off Manset and Rabihou to introduce Fleetwood and Malsom on 65 minutes and the change prompted a more scientific approach largely brought about by Fleetwood's intelligent running allowing Lunt to find passes that previously weren't available. Indeed, Fleetwood produced the best effort of the game when his swerving 20-yarder could only be beaten away be Legzdins while at the other end, a Harrad stab at goal only found the side netting. The final 10 minutes or so produced little excitement for the 2556 particularly the 200ish that had travelled from The Shire.
FT Burton 3 HUFC 0
Bulls: Bartlett, Green, Kovacs, Rose, Valentine, Lunt, Thompson (Werling 46), McQuilkin, Colbeck, Manset (Malsom 65), Rabihou (Fleetwood 65). Subs unused: Whittaker, Stratford, Canham, Kanoute.
Burton: Legzdins, Corbett, Moore, Stanton (James 21), Webster, Young, Penn, McGrath, Maghoma, Harrad (Pearson 72), Walker (Ellison 78). Subs not used: Poole, James, Phillips, Dyer, Grocott.
Bartlett could not be blamed for any of the goals but his central defensive partnership in the first half let him down badly. Newcomer, Rabihou tried a few pot shots but really did little to convince fans that he would regularly displace Fleetwood who was the only striker who looked like forcing an opening during the whole ninety minutes. Back to basics please Mr Davey, 4-4-2 and Thompson is not a defender.
Depressed.