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THE disappointment of losing to bottom club Darlington last week was thoroughly erased by Burton Albion’s stirring and determined 3-2 victory over Hereford United at the Pirelli Stadium.

All five goals came in a cracking second half and while the game certainly included both the best and worst of the Brewers, supporters will not mind too much as long as their team is coming out on top in the end.

Aaron Webster netted a superb 87th-minute header to give his side the three points after the Bulls had twice taken advantage of sloppy Burton defending to level the scores.

But perhaps the most significant thing to emerge from the game was the performance of Russell Penn.

Burton’s record signing had become almost the club’s forgotten man as he struggled to make an impact in his infrequent appearances, usually out of position on the wing.

But manager Paul Peschisolido has shown that he is not afraid to try different things and, having looked at the way Hereford played in their previous two matches, tried a new formation.

This involved sacrificing a striker – Richard Walker was the unlucky man – to let Penn play behind lone forward Shaun Harrad and in front of Michael Simpson and John McGrath, with Jimmy Phillips and new loan signing Kieron Cadogan on the wings.

Call it 4-5-1, call it 4-4-1-1, or whatever you like, but it solved two problems, since Penn was able to play his more natural game, in the centre, without the need to break up the near-essential McGrath-Simpson partnership.

On top of that, Peschisolido asked for more results from set pieces and got two goals from them, as Webster twice proved that he remains the club’s biggest aerial threat from free kicks and corners.  

The manager had less to say than usual after the game but he must have gone home pretty satisfied that a lot of what had been planned all week worked out as well as it did.

Burton dominated the first half, with Cadogan racing on to a Penn pass to get in an early shot but, generally, they were a final pass away from causing Hereford serious problems.

Penn, significantly more involved than before, twice had shots charged down, while a neat flick sent Harrad away to pull a shot disappointingly across goal and wide from the right hand side of the box.

When Hereford threatened, it was self-inflicted by the Brewers, a poor header by McGrath allowing Leon Constantine to stride forward and shoot wide, then an awful pass by Ryan Austin sending Gavin McCallum charging into the area and around Artur Krysiak, before Webster made an excellent saving tackle.

The closest Burton came in the first half was after 41 minutes, when Cadogan and Harrad combined to send Simpson in on goal, only for Hereford keeper Adam Bartlett to make a smart save at the midfielder’s feet.

 Krysiak was comfortably behind a shot from Craig King three minutes after the break, when Guy Branston gave the ball away, but the Brewers broke through two minutes later.

Austin’s accurate long passes from right-back have been a feature of the season and, from near halfway on the touchline, he picked out Harrad with a terrific ball.

Although the striker’s immediate control was good, he first looked to be dallying too long on the chance before swivelling to hit a 15-yard shot just inside Bartlett’s left-hand post.

Hereford were level after 61 minutes, the goal owing much to the skill of  McCallum, who got between Branston and Webster to gather a long clearance from Bartlett down the Hereford right, nicked the ball over Branston and volleyed a cross for  Constantine, arriving unmarked, to convert with a diving header.

Back came Burton almost immediately. Penn’s pass gave Harrad the chance for a shot which was deflected for a corner and Webster ran half the length of the pitch for his late arrival to meet Simpson’s kick, heading it firmly against Constantine’s raised hand.

That was a fairly straightforward decision for referee Dean Whitestone, who controlled the game with admirable calm, and Harrad hit the penalty hard and low to Bartlett’s right.

Keith Gilroy replaced Phillips, to a generous reception, for his first appearance of the season after 69 minutes but the next applause was from the Hereford fans as the Brewers got into an awful tangle when Kenny Lunt crossed from the right.

Krysiak, not at his most confident in the last few games, left his line but got nowhere near the ball, which Ryan Valentine hooked back for Constantine to head into an unguarded net.

Arguably, Hereford had battled hard enough for a point but Burton had one last card to play.

Cadogan, who occasionally looked dangerous as he flitted in and out of the game, was tripped 40 yards out on the right and Webster again timed his run to perfection, getting ahead of three Hereford defenders to glance in Simpson’s free kick.

This time there was no way back for the visitors, although there was one last alarm for the Brewers when Krysiak pushed a Darren Jones shot away for a corner, which passed right through the six-yard box untouched.

Hereford manager John Trewick, who bizarrely made his only two substitutions of the game in stoppage time, complained that the full indicated three minutes were not played but, in fact, the game was into a fourth extra minute when the referee blew up and the result had been decided by plenty of other factors.

It was a good one for Burton and they can travel to Crewe tomorrow with confidence.