City's dreams of an
improbable late charge for the Championship were snuffed
out with a late winner from former player David Holmes.
City had started with an adventurous line-up, putting
Jamie Smith in for his first start, alongside both Hemmo
and Mings. Despite City having set their stall out for
all out attack they created few openings and spent most
of their energy holding out against some determined
Albion pressure.
For all the scrappy midfield play this was
an even game with both sides trading blows in the
opposing penalty area. Burton saw an early header come
back off the bar after some unusually slack marking by
Niblett. City then saw two good openings wasted, one when
young Smith shot wide from a Mings pullback, and then
Mings himself was penalised after the unloved Albion
keeper Nick Goodwin dropped a corner.
For all that City
were successfully smothering the midfield, Burns and
Thorne senior were industrious rather than inventive. As
so often this season city's only real outlet was the pace
of Hemmings, and Hemmo was able to force a series of
corners which seemed to offer Gloucester their best
chance of nicking a lead. The best chance actually fell
to Hemmo, who saw his shot cleared off the line after
Niblett's initial effort had caused a six-yard scramble.
City ended the half
thankful to still be on level terms as poor finishing
from a header let them off the hook. The Tigers were then
saved by a superb stop from Mountain who palmed the ball
way from the onrushing Anderson. Burton manager Nigel
Clough then found himself booked for a late tackle on
Mings, with Mings treading on him for good measure.
Early in the second
half City spurned a golden chance when Smith tore away
down the right and sent over a low cross, only for Hemmo
to put his chance clean over the T-End when it seemed impossible to fail to score. Both sides threw on subs as
they tried to get the elusive goal, and it seemed the
Albion replacements were having more impact as another
Burton header rebounded of Gloucester's crossbar.
Mainwaring came off the bench for City, soon to be
followed by the strange decision to replace Mings with
Fergie.
The last 15 minutes
saw a much more open contest, with Holloway finding space
to attack down the right and Burns looking the most
accomplished player on the park. With City showing more
spirit than they had for the rest of the match it was
ironic that Albion then stole all three points. Former
City winger David Holmes had been well marshalled by
Holloway, but with only two minutes left Holmes ran on to
a long pass and lifted the ball over Mountain from 20
yards. Little time remained, except for Burns to exchange pleasantries with a few Burton fans, and for the pitiful
Goodwin to continue his long running feud with the City
fans.
After the match
City boss Brian Hughes was forced to concede defeat in
the chase for the title, city had been hoping for a 100%
March to close the gap on leaders Nuneaton and set up a
crucial clash on April 10th. Hughes has now set his stall
out for second place.
Mountain 