Gary Bowyer hails ‘outstanding’ Burton display in beating Plymouth

Burton boss Gary Bowyer heaped praise on his side as they upset the form book to win 1-0 at high-flying Plymouth.

Jack Armer smashed in a 70th-minute winner as Albion climbed to seventh ahead of next Saturday’s home game against sixth-placed Huddersfield.

Tom Cleverley’s Argyle started the day third but slipped to fourth after their three-match winning streak in the league came to an end, missing a chance to move top in the process.

Bowyer said: “All the talk was about Plymouth going top. Nobody gave us hope or belief we could win here but we had both and it’s our first clean sheet of the season.

“It was an outstanding performance, a brilliant win and thoroughly deserved in my opinion given the number of chances we created. If there was one regret it was that we didn’t convert the chances we created.

“I am delighted for the 159 supporters that made their way here. It’s a hell of a long way and like we said to the players you learn who is with you on trips like this.

“You look left and you look right and you know who is with you. To a man they were all together.

“Jack could have had a hat-trick. He showed character and he’s now our top goalscorer. He’s having a great season from that point of view.

“You can’t compare the last time we came here when we had eight or nine injuries and we put five scholars on.

“We haven’t got the biggest squad but with what’s been recruited we are going through a transition and a different style of play and the lads have bought into it and today’s a credit to the coaches for the work they do as well.”

Cleverley felt Plymouth paid the price for a slow start.

He said: “I think the word to certainly to describe the first half would be ‘flat’. We don’t lose that many duels, we don’t lose that many second balls and we don’t have that little attacking play when we do the things we are good at.

“I am a disappointed with that and we will be addressing that and working on it. I can accept missed chances, I can accept balls given away but I can’t accept a lack of intensity, especially not here.

“As a group of players they have had a really good spell and deserve a chance to react from this. When we take our foot off the gas we are a lot less effective.

“That’s nine out of 10 games that Burton have scored first so we knew how important the start was going to be. I don’t think we put them under anything like the pressure we normally do teams who come here but we created the best chances in the game.

“The big thing for me is how do we not lose those games? You are not going to be at your best every game. We are going to have days when we are off it a little bit but those are the days you need to come away with a point.”