POSH TOO GOOD

A red card for Anton Peterlin and a disallowed goal dented Burton's brave fight against relegation at The Abax suffering a 2-1 loss against Short's hometown club. But the Brewers boss defended his players after they were dominated from start to finish by a classy Posh side.
"How can I criticise my players after 13 points from the last 6 games? Sometimes you just hold up your hands and say the other team were too good and this is one of them times. Posh kept the ball very well and showed why they are second in the league. We were chasing shadows at times. No complaints about the red card, it was cinical challenge by Anton. So, well done to Lee and his players but we'll move on now and put this to one side just as we did with the Birmingham game."

With Rochdale visiting The Pirelli Stadium on Wednesday, another team on the brink of the play offs, Short has a selection headache with suspensions and injuries mounting. "We've lost Anton for 3 games, Lucas Akins will miss Rochdale after collecting 5 yellows and we've a few walking wounded. We're still trying to add another loan signing before Wednesday but it's proving difficult. Alex Macdonald should be back for Saturday and we're hopeful Ryan Jarvis will be too but it's touch and go. Rochdale have been on a bad run of late but I'm sure they'll be looking to put things right against us but we need to use their bad run as an incentive to bounce back. We're all in a positive frame of mind. In fact, anyone heard mentioning the R word will be fined. And that includes the Chairman. Until the maths say otherwise we'll continue to fight for every available point."

Following the Rochdale game Burton then face Brentford (22nd) and Shrewsbury (20th) which will be tense affairs. "We can't look that far ahead. We need to prepare for Rochdale first then look to them games. All our remaining games are against teams who are either looking for promotion or like ourselves fighting for survival. Every game will be tough but those 2 games will need calm heads and understanding officials."