Fleetwood 1 Burton 2: Brewers hit back to knock Town out of FA Cup

In atrocious conditions, Daniel Jebbison notched a winner for the Brewers with 13 minutes to go after both sides had gone toe-to-toe pretty much throughout.

At an extremely blustery Highbury, Town boss Simon Grayson opted to make three alterations to his starting line-up following the dramatic League One defeat by high-flying Wigan during the week.

Defender James Hill was absent following his dream call-up by Lee Carsley’s England Under-21s set-up and his place went to Conor McLaughlin.

Further forward Shayden Morris and Harrison Biggins were handed their chance to shine, with Dan Batty and Callum Johnson having to be content with places on the bench.

The Brewers’ previous game was also against Wigan, seven days earlier. Their boss Jimmy-Floyd Hasselbaink made four changes to his starting XI on the back of their 2-0 defeat.

It was a lively start to the contest, with Town threatening early on. Joe Garner crossed in smartly from the right but Callum Morton was just beaten to the ball at the near post.

Morton had a terrific chance in the ninth minute. Callum Camps played him in only for Brewers keeper Ben Garratt to charge out and make an excellent point-blank stop.

Garner made an early breakthrough three minutes later, poking home from close range after Garratt had spilled Morris’s low driven cross.

Two minutes later the scores were level. Joe Powell cracked home from 20 yards after meeting Michael Mancienne’s crisp pass, so it was quickly back to square one.

Morris was denied by a sharp Garratt save from a tight angle as Town stepped it up again, though they did also survive vociferous penalty claims when Alex Cairns appeared to have bundled over Kane Hemmings.

Morris then almost caught out onrushing ‘keeper Garratt from distance but he side-footed narrowly off-target from 40 yards.

It had been an evenly-contested opening half, one which remained very much up for grabs for both sides.

It was the Brewers who were on top in the opening stages of the second period, though.

Cameron Borthwick-Jackson drove narrowly over the top after Adedeji Oshilaja’s cross wasn’t cleared, while the lively Hemmings was also putting himself about.

At the other end, Morton was also giving the Burton defence a headache or two, and on the hour mark he lashed in an effort on the turn which was well blocked by Oshilaja.

However, as the conditions worsened quite dramatically as the game entered the final 15 minutes, Burton turned the game on its head.

They went in front in the 77th minute, when Tom Hamer clipped in a teasing cross for Jebbison and he converted clinically from close range.

That appeared to be it for dejected Town, who struggled to find a way back into contention in the latter stages and threatened little as their cup hopes faded.

Fleetwood: Cairns, McLaughlin (Johnson, 76), Clarke, Andrew, Lane, Morton (G Garner, 76), Camps (Batty, 66), Morris, Biggins, J Garner (Edmondson, 87), Matete.

Subs not used: Crellin, Clark, Teale, Johnston, McMillan.

Burton: Garratt, Hamer, Oshilaja, Mancienne, Borthwick-Jackson, Powell, Shaughnessy, Taylor, Leak, Jebbison (Patrick, 85), Hemmings (Amadi-Holloway, 85).

Subs not used: Balcombe, Morris, O’Connor, Blake-Tracy, Maddox, Chapman, Lakin.

Referee: Tom Reeves.

Attendance: 1,362

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