Vauxhall Motors 1, Burton Albion 4

Jan 14 2008 by Alan Bartlam, Liverpool Daily Post

IF VAUXHALL Motors thought they were in for a tough afternoon in the FA Trophy against Burton Albion, any doubt was removed inside the first seven minutes as Nigel Clough’s full-timers raced into a 2-0 lead.

From that point on the visitors were barely troubled as they cruised into the last 16 of the competition.

Facing a side unbeaten away from home and flying high in the Blue Square Premier, the last thing Motors wanted to do was fall behind early on.

But that is exactly how things panned out as the Brewers struck after just two minutes.

A right-sided corner was headed back across goal from the far post by John McGrath for John Brayford to nod home from close in.

Five minutes later the visitors were two up when Daryl Clare converted from the penalty spot after Jonathan Egerton was harshly adjudged to have handled inside his own area.

But Motors never gave up t despite such an awful start.

Peter Heler went close with a header and Paul Taylor stung the fingers of Albion keeper Kevin Poole from an acute angle, as they gamely fought back.

But just before the break, the task was made even harder as the former Chester striker Clare struck again at the end of a neat move.

Motors keeper Lloyd Rigby made three excellent saves during the tie to keep the score down.

But even he was powerless to prevent McGrath from slipping home a fourth as early as the 55th minute, when he won a race to the long through ball ahead of Jordan Holmes to effectively put the tie beyond the reach of the home side.

Vauxhall grabbed a late consolation goal as a reward for their gallant showing when Heler struck a sweet left-foot shot beyond the reach of goalkeeper Poole and inside the far post in the 89th minute.