Burton head coach Gary Bowyer hailed the “incredible” achievement of his team as Tuesday night’s 1-1 draw with Wigan mathematically secured their place in League One next season.
Rumarn Burrell’s 11th goal of the season set Albion on their way to the point that they needed and safety would have been sealed with a win had it not been for Ronan Darcy’s last-gasp equaliser for the visitors.
“I am immensely proud of the players and the staff,” Bowyer said. “It is just incredible and such a young group as well to do what they have done.”
Albion were nine points adrift of safety when Bowyer arrived in December, a gap that increased to 11 in January.
He added: “I said to the players about a month ago that if it took going down to the last second and the last kick of the last game, we would take that from where we were when we came in so to have done it with a game to spare is incredible.
“Being honest, I was disappointed with our first-half performance tonight. I thought we looked nervy which was to be expected and we just put a couple of demands on them at half-time and I thought we saw a response.
“It was a poor, late goal we conceded but we will take that tonight.
“We knew once we got out of the bottom four a couple of weeks ago, that was the time we really had to work hard to make sure we stayed there. Not accepting that we had done it.”
Wigan head coach Ryan Lowe – who took the reins in March – was grateful for Darcy’s late leveller as his side extended their unbeaten run to seven games in their penultimate match.
“The players have shown that spirit for me and the staff and they have been excellent,” Lowe said.
“There have been some good moments in there. We felt comfortable in the game. We knew what Burton were trying to do to make sure they stayed in the division and fair play to Gary and his team, he has done a fantastic job.
“We just got bogged down into a bit of a fight with them fighting for their lives but we know if we move the ball quicker, we can cause any team a problem.”
Lowe made late attacking substitutions to try and extend his unbeaten run and it paid off.
He added: “Last throw of the dice, we made the changes, changed shape and threw loads of attackers on and lo and behold, Ronan dinks one in. I think Cal (Callum McManaman) is trying to claim it saying it came off his fringe!
“The lads gave us everything. I want us to go unbeaten to the end of the season and if results go for us we can still finish in the top 12 and that could be something to really build on.”
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