BURTON boss Nigel Clough has revealed he went to check on his beloved dog during a series of blackouts in their 2-0 Carabao Cup win against Bournemouth.
Goals from Oliver Sarkic and Nathan Broadhead saw the last season’s semi-finalists cause another stunning upset in the competition, this time at the expense of Eddie Howe’s men.
But what was perhaps more unusual was three second-half floodlight failures at the Pirelli Stadium that resulted in the match being delayed for 28 minutes.
Referee John Busby briefly appeared to abandon the game following the third stoppage, but play eventually continued and Albion sealed a memorable win.
Asked what he had said to his players during the breaks, Clough replied: “Not a lot. I was in making sure the dog was okay with the stoppages and then I came back out and we were back on the pitch again.
“There’s nothing you can tell them. We’ve said everything in the past couple of games, before the game and at half-time.
“As professional footballers, that’s what you have to deal with at times.”
I was in making sure the dog was okay with the stoppages and then I came back out and we were back on the pitch again
Nigel Clough
Clough said: “I’ve never experienced anything like that, not going ‘on-off, on-off’ for floodlight failures. But it was a problem no one could control.
“I’m just delighted to get the game finished and Bournemouth were desperate to get it on as well. They didn’t want to come back in a couple of weeks’ time.
“But initially we got conflicting messages. It was the Football League who said you have to give it 30 minutes in total for outages.
“No matter how many times you stop, if it’s not 30 minutes and we were still within that, and that’s why we went back out that final time.”
Clough’s Hungarian Vizsla dog Bobbie already has form in the Carabao Cup, making a guest appearance during his press conference ahead of the semi-final second-leg against Manchester City.
Burton’s reward for reaching the competition’s last 16 for a second successive year was another Premier League fixture at home, this time against Leicester.
Brendan Rodgers side breezed past Luton Town following strikes from Demarai Gray, James Justin, Youri Tielemans, and Kelechi Iheanacho.
