Dino Maamria hailed a “brilliant performance” after Burton made it three league wins on the bounce for the first time since February with a 1-0 win at 10-man Lincoln.
Daniel Mandroiu left the hosts a man down 10 minutes into the second half after a rash challenge on Josh Gordon before Jack Burroughs’ own goal three minutes later sealed the Imps’ fate.
Maamria’s men are now six league games unbeaten after the Brewers’ hierarchy stuck by their man through a painful seven-game winless streak to start the season.
After Albion’s third successive win at Sincil Bank, Maamria said: “I’m thrilled. I thought the lads were terrific today to come to a place like this where they don’t lose many.
“We came here again, put in a brilliant performance, and got a good win. The only negative is we didn’t score more goals.
“We’ve got to keep improving all the time. We’ve got to stay grounded.
“I thought we were excellent in the first half. We controlled the ball and played how we wanted to play.
“The worst part of our performance was after we scored when they were down to 10 men.
“We started going long too often, almost as if we were too desperate to win the game. We ended up doing things that weren’t in the game management.
“We lacked that quality in the final third, and that’s something we need to work on. I said it after the Wigan game, when their man should have been sent off, that I was glad he wasn’t because it’s harder playing against 10 men sometimes.”
Mark Kennedy saw his misfiring side slip to successive league defeats as their current slump stretched to just one win from six.
On Mandroiu’s game-defining red card, he said: “There’s no dispute that it’s a red card. I can’t really argue with it and it changed the game.
“I can’t defend the goal because of that but there has to be a mentality, a toughness and a maturity after that happens.
“I’m 47 and played a lot of football and I thought to myself that we just needed to manage the game for the next five minutes, but we didn’t do that.
“He apologised to his team-mates. He’s a really good guy. What’s disappointing for me is I’ve had multiple conversations with Danny this week and what’s hard for me is to see him get a red card so quickly after those conversations because they’ve been hard conversations.
“It’s mind-boggling for me to understand. We’re here to educate and help him and not destroy his talent.
“Danny’s future is simple for me. He could be in the Championship or back in Ireland. If he changes his mentality and the structure to his game then he can go wherever he wants because he’s got exceptional talent.”
Man United could be without Toone until new year, says Skinner
Marc Skinner revealed that Manchester United could be without midfielder Ella Toone until the new year after she picked up a calf injury in training.
Toone has featured in five games in the Women's Super League this season, but is yet to register a goal or an assist so far this term.
The 25-year-old has missed United's last two games and was not selected in Sarina Wiegman's England squad for their upcoming friendlies against the United States and Switzerland.
She had previously appeared in a staggering 96 straight matches before missing United's WSL showdown with Leicester City last weekend.
But ahead of the Red Devils' meeting with league leaders Chelsea on Sunday, Skinner confirmed they would be without Toone for not only that game, but for the foreseeable future.
"We have three games [after the international break and before Christmas]. There's always the hope, but I think you balance and you go, 'right, if we can get her back, we get her back'," Skinner said.
"But we're just not going to rush her in this moment because it's a calf injury, it's your running mechanism. If we injure the running mechanism, it takes longer.
"So ideally we'd like her back for those games afterwards.
"The projection is she misses this game [Chelsea], she misses the international window, probably misses the first game after that, and then we'll see from there.
"But because it is such a short block of only three games, we'll assess whether it's worth that or actually resetting to come back after Christmas."
Al-Nassr 1-2 Al-Qadsiah: Aubameyang winner ends hosts' unbeaten run
Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang hit the winner as Al-Qadsiah inflicted a 2-1 defeat on Al-Nassr in the Saudi Pro League on Friday to end their 21-match unbeaten run.
Cristiano Ronaldo's seventh league goal of the season put Al-Nassr ahead, but Al-Qadsiah replied swiftly through Julian Quinones before Aubameyang struck the decisive blow.
The hosts drew first blood in the 32nd minute when Ronaldo slotted home after Al-Qadsiah goalkeeper Koen Casteels had spilled a routine catch from Talisca's cross.
However, Al-Nassr's joy was short-lived when Quinones brought down Turki Al Ammar's delivery five minutes later, with the Mexcio winger firing past Bento to level the scores.
Quinones also played a part in the winning goal after brilliantly turning the ball back across goal from Nahitan Nandez's search pass to tee up a simple finish for Aubameyang.
The result sees Al-Qadsiah move level on 22 points with third-placed Al-Nassr, with Al-Shabab also level with them.
Stefano Pioli's Al-Nassr are six points adrift of defending champions and leaders Al-Hilal, who also have a game in hand.
Vlahovic out of Juventus clash with Milan
Dusan Vlahovic will miss Juventus' trip to Milan in Serie A this weekend and is also a doubt for the Champions League game at Aston Villa, head coach Thiago Motta has confirmed.
Vlahovic returned from the international break with a muscle problem in his left thigh, and the manager, after he confirmed the Serbian's absence for Saturday's game at San Siro, was asked about his chances of playing on Wednesday at Villa Park.
"I don't know. He definitely won't be there tomorrow. We hope to have him back as soon as possible," Motta told a press conference on Friday.
"Injuries are part of football. Now it's Vlahovic's turn, but we'll keep playing with the same principles, attacking and defending together."
Vlahovic is the latest of Motta's injury problems at Juventus. Argentine winger Nicolas Gonzalez missed the last six league games and is still unavailable, while Poland striker Arkadiusz Milik is a long-term absentee.
Brazilian midfielder Douglas Luiz will also miss the game with Milan and defender Juan Cabal recently suffered an Anterior Cruciate Ligament (ACL) injury, the same issue which will keep fellow defender Gleison Bremer out for the rest of the season.
"I'm really disappointed for Cabal because, like Bremer, he'll be out for a long time," Motta said.
"This is another reason to push ourselves, to commit that bit more so that these absences don't weigh too heavily."
Juventus go into the game as the only unbeaten side in Serie A but find themselves sixth in the standings in what is so far a very tight title race, with just two points separating Motta's side from leaders Napoli.
"It's very balanced and this is good for both us and the public," Motta said.
"We must all try to continue like this. We have to try to get as many positive results as possible."
Milan are one place behind Juve but six points off Motta's side.
SportsMax is the Caribbean sports channel of choice, committed to providing sporting content of the highest quality to the Caribbean, delivered by a team of highly innovative, passionate and qualified professionals.
(876) 619-7629
digitalmedia@sportsmax.tv
