Burton interim manager Gary Mills was “proud” of his side after claiming back-to-back wins at the Pirelli Stadium with a hard-fought 1-0 success over Shrewsbury.

The home side took the lead with their first chance of the game, Joe Powell’s corner whipped perfectly onto the head of striker Beryly Lubala, who guided his effort into the back of the net on 16 minutes.

Mills said: “I’m absolutely delighted with the attitude and application of the boys over the Christmas period.

“The willingness to defend the goal as a unit is something we’ve been working on and we’re really proud.

“The game played out exactly as we planned for, we know they’re effective in what they do which makes us so proud is what we achieved as a group.”

Despite the narrow manner of the victory, Mills was particularly impressed with the quality his side showed in the defensive third of the pitch.

He added: “The lads put their bodies on the line and showed that want to keep the ball out of the net as well as the solidarity, spirit and togetherness.

“I’d hoped the forward players would help their defenders out and put the ball in the net a few more times but they’re warriors.

“The group are really together and they want to perform for each other and the football club which is fantastic.”

Shrewsbury boss Matt Taylor was disappointed with the nature of the defeat but wanted to highlight his players’ work-rate and commitment.

Taylor said: “I felt we did enough to win the game let alone lose it.

“I know it can’t be that a team only has to score one goal to beat us but we’re in a tough moment in terms of results but, more importantly, we’re in a really difficult spot in terms of available players.

“I can’t question the players’ effort but I can question the quality when we’re in those big moments when we get chances because the players have done it this season and we know they can do it.”

The Salop faithful were audibly upset with what they were seeing from their team and Taylor was keen to sympathise with the supporters.

He added: “I can hear their frustrations and I’ve got no issues with that but you have to understand where we are.

“This football club did really well last season with a different group of players and where we are now with the players we have available, we’re at full stretch.

“I knew the job would be tough but what I didn’t expect was all of these unforeseen issues where we would pick up injuries that you’d argue are some of our best players and make it really difficult for us.”

Caretaker boss Gary Mills was proud of his Burton players after they beat Blackpool 1-0 to register a first win in nine League One matches.

Bobby Kamwa netted the game’s only goal after 10 minutes, with play-off hopefuls Blackpool unable to respond.

“It was a really good performance and really proud of the group,” Mills said.

“The energy and pride they showed in their performance was excellent and that is credit to everyone at the football club. They deserve that.”

Albion got off to a fast start and were rewarded when Kamwa’s teasing cross beat everybody and nestled in the far corner.

“It was a message (getting at Blackpool early) that we hammered home before the game,” Mills said. “We wanted to start fast and right, full of energy and we wanted to engage the crowd, who I thought were fantastic today for us.”

Former Leeds youngster Kamwa has not featured much for Albion this season but earned praise from his boss after scoring his first goal since the final game of 2022.

“We spoke at length about getting more crosses into the box,” Mills said. “The type of delivery was always asking questions.

“I thought Bobby was fantastic. He has come into the side today having been out for a little while, but he showed real energy and was a threat all game. I thought we looked a decent side on the counter-attack today.”

A rare clean sheet was down to superb defending, led by skipper John Brayford, and Mills knew that his side had put bodies on the line to secure victory.

“Defensively we were outstanding,” he said. “They gave us a real platform to play off and defended for their lives and they really stuck together.”

Blackpool head coach Neil Critchley was left bemoaning another poor away day as his team lost for the second time in a row on the road, having gone down 2-1 at Cambridge on December 16, denting their play-off aspirations.

“I am sick of having this feeling away from home, to be honest,” he said. “We give a team a goal head start, which means you are chasing the game.

“We played some good football in the first half with one or two decent opportunities.

“Second half, obviously, they are holding onto their lead and we have pushed them right back and it is not easy then to break down 11 men behind the ball, but when we got into good situations or promising areas of the pitch, we failed. Again. It is deja vu from Cambridge.”

Critchley was also critical of the defending for Burton’s goal.

“It’s a diagonal down the pitch and we are nowhere near aggressive enough on the touchline,” he said. “We don’t stop the ball coming in the box and it finds its way into the bottom corner.”