Burton Albion boss admits to ‘suspicion of offside’

The goal scored by Jon Dadi Bodvarsson against his old team Reading in Tuesday’s 3-2 loss at the Pirelli Stadium

was ‘a suspicion’ of offside, according to Burton Albion manager Gary Bowyer.

Seated in the relegation zone, the Brewers dominated the first half with two goals and blew opportunities early in the

second half to end the game.

Michael Craig and Sam Smith both scored goals in quick succession as Noel Hunt’s Royals rallied and levelled.

However, the result was sealed late into stoppage time when Rumarn Burrell scored his second goal of the evening.

Hunt was left fuming with his team’s game-management and the levels of officiating, feeling his side warranted at

least one penalty and Bodvarsson’s goal to be ruled out.

The Icelandic forward only moved to Burton last week and has four goals in three matches, having spent two years in

Berkshire between 2017 and 2019.

Bowyer said BBC Radio Derby, “I thought we were terrific going forwards in the first half,” after winning three

straight games. “They have some talented football players on the team who excel at the possession game. We were

being harmed by their play, which went against our system. We appeared capable of scoring quite a few goals as we

advanced.

“We took a brilliant goal from Ru, a wonderful cross from Jack Armer. We get ourselves in front and then we have

another chance, score from a well-worked set play which we identified, and it worked. There was a suspicion of

offside, but we’ll take that. I thought we had other chances in the game.

“I turned to Pat and yelled 2-2 as soon as the JJ Mckiernan miss occurred. You’ve held that role as a manager and

player so many times, I just knew. We failed to eradicate them at that precise moment. They deserve credit for

getting themselves back into it with two goals that we promptly reviewed and wanted to address more effectively.

Character, tenacity, and the motto “next goal” remain constant, and Dodgson and Ru’s ball in was excellent once

more. It was a fantastic night for us to execute it, see it through to the end, and hear the response from JD and the

home crowd.

After three straight losses, Reading fell to 10th place, three points outside the playoffs, while the Brewers are now

three points outside of safety.