Burton Albion 0-0 Ipswich Town - Half-Time Saturday, 28th Oct 2017 15:59 Town’s game at Burton Albion remains 0-0 at half-time but with the home side having gone closest to opening the scoring. Mick McCarthy has named an attacking line-up featuring all four of his frontline strikers, David McGoldrick, Joe Garner, Martyn Waghorn and Freddie Sears. The Blues started in a system with Sears, Garner and Waghorn ahead of McGoldrick playing in a role between the front three and deeper midfield pairing Cole Skuse and Tristan Nydam. The injured Tom Adeyemi dropped out of the team for Sears, who scored in both games against the Brewers last season, while Kevin Bru was on the bench for only the third time this season. For Burton, keeper Connor Ripley was handed his league debut, while right-back John Brayford misses out with a hamstring injury. Former Blues striker Luke Varney and ex-loan keeper Stephen Bywater were among the Brewers’ subs. The first chance of the game fell to the home side, Jake Buxton flicking Matty Lund’s sixth-minute freekick from the left straight at Bartosz Bialkowski. Two minutes later, Marvin Sordell saw a shot deflect wide for a corner. From the flag-kick, the ball eventually ran to Ben Turner at a tight angle on the left from where he hit a shot into the side-netting, some of the Brewers support initially thinking it had gone in. Town struggled to make too much headway in a tight opening to the game in which Burton gave the Blues little time on the ball and they were largely limited to long balls forward to their front three which the home defence dealt with comfortably. Presumably as a result, after Sordell had undergone treatment in the 18th minute, Town tweaked their system with McGoldrick moving to the right side of a three behind Garner with Waghorn in the centre and Sears to the left. Town had looked to catch the Brewers on the counter-attack from the off but were unable to do so until the 27th minute when, after a decent Burton move had broken down, McGoldrick found Sears breaking in space on the left. However, the former Colchester man’s cross flew beyond the far post and out for a goalkick. The Blues eventually began to make more of an impression and on the half hour Waghorn cleverly turned away from his man midway inside the Burton half before playing in McGoldrick, whose low shot was saved down to his left by Ripley. Moments later, Garner struck an effort from distance which appeared to catch a Brewers player on the way wide but referee Simon Hooper gave a goalkick. Town’s two strikes led to sarcastic chants of ‘we’ve had a shot’ from the Town support behind the goal at the other end. Burton were next to threaten, Sordell hitting a low shot from 20 yards which Bialkowski spilled. However, the keeper was able to block the follow-up from Lund at point-blank. The Brewers had an even better opportunity in the 35th minute, Sordell feeding in Dyer on the right of the area but Bialkowski saved with an outstretched boot as the winger looked to shoot across him into the far corner. The wind that Town had played into all half got stronger as the half wore on, Bialkowski finding harder and harder to get distance on his long kicks. On 44 Lund shot wide from not far outside the area, then just before the period moved into one additional minute, McGoldrick was sent away on the left but the Blues frontman could only find the side-netting. Seconds before the whistle there was a big scare for Town when Sordell was sent away behind the backline - the former Watford man looked to have been well offside - but fortunately for the Blues he shot wide. The end of the half was greeted by boos from the Town support, the Blues having been underwhelming throughout the half, unable to gain the upper hand, impose themselves on the game or retain the ball. Burton had had much the better of the period and might well have been ahead but for some less than clinical finishing and a couple of stops from Bialkowski, who really ought to have been worked more. Town will have to be much better after the break if they are to return to winning ways. Burton: Ripley, Warnock, McFadzean, Buxton (c), Turner, Murphy, Allen, Lund, Akins, Dyer, Sordell. Subs: Bywater, Flanagan, Naylor, Varney, Palmer, Akpan, Barker. Town: Bialkowski, Spence, Webster, Chambers (c), Knudsen, Skuse, Nydam, Sears, Waghorn, McGoldrick, Garner. Subs: Gerken, Iorfa, Celina, Connolly, Ward, Downes, Bru. Referee: Simon Hooper (Wiltshire).
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