Aston Villa out of Carabao Cup after 1-0 defeat at League One side
Wednesday 29 August 2018 09:16, UK
Steve Bruce did not hold back in the criticism of his side as Aston Villa were beaten 1-0 by Burton in the Carabao Cup second round.
Burton won 1-0 at the Pirelli Stadium courtesy of Liam Boyce’s 52nd-minute strike, with Albert Adomah missing a late penalty for Villa.
"You could use the word embarrassing about that performance," said a seething Bruce. "We got away with it against Yeovil in the first round and some of the players have been knocking down my door for the last two or three weeks and all you can say is that we got what we deserved, which was nothing.
"The way we played and went about it was chalk and cheese from Saturday. I take the responsibility for changing the whole team, because the ones who have been knocking down my door had their opportunity tonight and it's fair to say that they haven't grasped it, that's for sure.
"Fair play to Burton, they got behind the ball extremely well, but I'm not going to make excuses. We were awful, absolutely hopeless, and we have to take it on the chin and accept the consequences."
Not even the late lifeline of Adomah's penalty could save Bruce's side as his poor effort was easily saved, and Bruce admitted it was a fair representation of his side's performance on the night.
"I didn't think we deserved to lose the match - however, we didn't deserve after our performance to get out of jail," he said. "The penalty summed the whole night up which was disappointing."
Nigel Clough hopes his Burton side can grow in confidence after causing a Carabao Cup second-round shock.
“I hope the confidence will come from that performance and victory tonight,” said Clough. “I thought we just about deserved it against a strong Aston Villa side. We are a bit disappointed that we didn’t go and get that second goal with the situations and opportunities that we had.”
