Fleetwood Town v Burton Albion- Emirates FA Cup first round – 6/11/21 – Match report

Burton Albion beat Fleetwood Town 2-1 in the Fa cup first round at a cold and windy Highbury stadium. Two well worked goals, scored by Joe Powell and Daniel Jebbison respectively sent the brewers through to the second-round draw for just the second time in 6 years.

Having only just made the long trip just a few weeks ago in the league, Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink opted for the same 3-4-1-2 formation that beat Town 1-0 hoping to emulate the same success. The dutchman also made 4 changes from last weekends 2-0 defeat at wigan with the most notable of changes seeing Lucas Akins, a reliable figure in the Albion line up for several years replaced up front by last years top score Kane Hemmings.

In a game of short quality, it was the Fylde Coast side who started the game on the front foot and went ahead on 12 minutes, a flying run down the right-hand side from Shayden Morris which produced an indifferent ball the brewers defense couldn’t gain control of allowing former Preston striker Joe Garner to latch on at the back post and fumble the ball in.

That goal seemed to wake Burton up as Fleetwood’s lead lasted just two minutes as Michael Mancienne managed to wiggle his way into space 15 yards from goal before laying the ball into the path of former West Ham youngster Joe Powell who smashed home a peach to give Fleetwood goalkeeper Alex Cairns no chance to level the score 1-1.

The brewers grew into the game even more after leveling it up and strong penalty shouts were waved away by referee Tom Reeves as Hemmings raced in to beat the cod away keeper Cairns to a loose ball before the outstretched leg of Cairns brought Burton’s talisman down, an unmoved Reeves waved play on.

As the weather moved in and the heavy wind on the backs of burton, a flash shot from Jebbison was a chance of very little as the half flittered out.

HALF TIME- FLEETWOOD TOWN 1-1 BURTON ALBION

The wind continued to wheel in as more hats and gloves were on show as the night drew in during the second half. And with the wind against them, Albion showed signs of good as Cameron Borthwick-Jackson musted a well moved chance down the left-hand side and earned his side a corner from the result of a wayward deflected shot.

As the rain now moved in and added to the factor of the gale-force winds, it became apparent that this would be no easy finish for either side. However, it was not something that was going to stop Hasselbaink’s men and before long a neat interchange between the brewers’ Sheffield United loanee Jebbison and full-back Hamer aloud a neat dink by Hamer over the Fleetwood defense and into the path of Jebbison who calmly struck the ball past a hopeless Cairns to give the brewers a deserved lead with just over 10 minutes to play.

Fleetwood hadn’t really gained a solid grasp into the second half at all and now faced a mountain in torrential rain to try and save the game and send it back to the Pirelli for a replay. The brewers used a good old-fashioned time-wasting trick by making a few substitutions as the game fizzled out leaving the brewers with a well-earned victory and their name into the hat of Monday’s draw.

It finished FLEETWOOD TOWN 1-2 BURTON ALBION and the brewers will make the way back to east Staffordshire with a smile on their face and hope of a decent draw to make more progress in England’s most prestigious cup competition.