Burton Albion boss feels his side were the masters of their own downfall, as they slipped to a 2-0 reverse at the Pirelli Stadium.

Maamria believes Burton were much the better outfit for significant periods of the game, but let themselves down with their defending.

‘Then we started the second half on the front foot, parked in their half but we couldn’t get a goal and then they scored from transition. That’s game over against these teams when you give them goals like we have tonight.

‘The story of tonight was that we shot ourselves in the foot twice. It was one of those nights where we fell short but not through lack of effort. We needed a goal but weren’t clinical enough in the final third. They defended their goal well, but we should have asked their keeper more questions.’

Burton have a slew of injury problems, particularly in defensive areas, but are hopeful they will be at least partially alleviated, with just under a week until their next outing at Wrexham in the Bristol Street Motors Trophy.

He added: ‘We will get some training in and hopefully get John Brayford back for Wrexham on Tuesday.

‘We will pick our strongest team and go and look to win the game as we did against Mansfield.’