Dino Maamria (Photo: Pete Norton)
Burton Albion boss Dino Maamria was left deeply unimpressed by his side’s efforts during their 2-0 defeat to Northampton at Sixfields on Saturday, admitting they ‘deserved absolutely nothing’ after being ‘outplayed and outfought’.
The first half came and went almost without incident but things opened up nine minutes after the restart when Marc Leonard brilliantly fired Cobblers into a vital lead.
Town visibly gained confidence from that and carved out numerous chances to double their lead before eventually doing so through Sam Hoskins’ ninth goal of the season 11 minutes from full-time, which all-but confirmed defeat for Burton.
“It was a poor performance,” admitted Maamria. “We were outfought and outplayed and the second half especially was really poor. There wasn’t much in the first half so the message at half-time was to push more bodies forward and play more forward but we didn’t do that.
“They scored a brilliant goal and that probably galvanised them but I’m really disappointed with our response because we didn’t get going after that and they dominated us.
“The most disappointing thing is that we were outfought in every department. They won first and second balls, they closed us down, they got behind the ball quicker and they asked more questions. There are ways to lose games and you don’t lose like we did today. Northampton are in a difficult moment and the goal helped them and they finished the game better, but we were outfought and that’s not like us.
“We then missed easy chances. We should have got one goal back near the end and if you do that, it’s a different game, but we deserved absolutely nothing today and I’m gutted for our fans because they turned up in their numbers.”
