Maamria praises Burton’s defensive display to claim point against Dons

Dino Maamria was pleased with how his side defended to earn a point in the 1-1 draw with MK Dons at Stadium MK on Saturday.

Burton took the lead through a Victor Adeboyejo penalty on 29 minutes, and looked on course for victory over their relegation rivals until Bradley Johnson’s 83rd minute header rescued a draw for Liam Manning’s side.

Boss Maamria said he set his side up on Saturday to nullify Dons’ threats and while it worked in the first half, the hosts had control of the second.

“It is two halves of football. I thought the first half we were fantastic,” Maamria said. “I thought our game plan was brilliant. We scored and we were winning the first half.

“The message at half time was that we cannot sit on that and we cannot allow them to have that much of the ball. We have to dominate the ball and go forward to get that second goal.

“But credit to MK Dons , although they are in the bottom four on the same points as us, they are a good team and there is no doubt about that and they cause problems

“I changed shape today to nullify their threats and I thought the shape and structure of the team worked really well. They scored from a set play which is something we probably didn’t expect because their threat is normally opening teams up through the middle and I thought we defended those threats really well.

“Ultimately we didn’t control possession in the second half at all. We defended really well but then gave the ball away cheaply and we gave them a chance that they capitalised on.”