Burton and Bristol City bosses take positives from draw

Nigel Clough and Lee Johnson both paid tribute to two “honest” teams as Burton and Bristol City settled for a share of the points from a goalless draw at the Pirelli Stadium.

Similar to the meeting at Ashton Gate earlier in the season, chances were at a premium but both bosses felt it was a tight game that either side could have nicked over the course of 90 minutes.

“That was two honest teams out there today,” said Johnson, reflecting on a 10th game on the road without a win.

“Burton are punching above their weight and probably so are we, so we have to enjoy the Championship.

“I suppose it was a fair result today. In the first half Burton were the better side and in the second half we were better.

“The pitch wasn’t conducive to slick play but it’s the same for both teams and I thought in the first half we were poor and looked leggy and didn’t have our normal zip. We have done a lot of travelling this week.

“I thought there were some positives. We changed the shape at half-time and I thought that worked.

“It was good to get Milan Djuric out there again and get him some minutes and I think you see how effective he can be in giving us a platform to play off. Lloyd Kelly, our young academy product, was outstanding today and we got a clean sheet.

“What do people expect? Burton are fighting for their lives and have a good spirit among their squad and they have plenty of experience”

Clough was also keen to take the positives from a game in which his strikers Liam Boyce and Darren Bent probably missed the best opportunities of the game, in the first half when his side were on top.

“If we had got the goals that we deserved in the first half then it would have been a different story,” he said.

“We had plenty of intent out there today. We had two up top and had Marvin (Sordell) and Lucas (Akins) wide and they set the tone from the first minute of the game, running at the full-backs, and we made it very uncomfortable for Bristol City in the first half.

“We can’t do much more. We are putting balls into the box and apart from somebody just finishing one off – Liam has got too good a connection on his chance and its ended up in Frank Fielding’s hands and he was more surprised than anybody.”