BURTON 3 CITY 1

THE one common denominator was the score.

Both shared the same 3-1 margin of victory.

Otherwise, Burton May 2013 and Burton February 2016 could not have been more different.

Like a dodgy remake of a classic movie, the cast spectacularly flunked their part.

Instead of taking the inspiration of City’s last visit and replicating that energy and drive, the current bunch stumbled over their lines in the meekest manner.

Where James Hanson three seasons ago had plunged a dagger in Burton’s chest with the deadliest of finishes; this time that same right foot betrayed him when put through clear on goal.

Where City’s midfield squeezed the life out of the home side in that play-off decider; this time they were simply over-run by opponents who were quicker and hungrier for the ball.

Where Phil Parkinson had got it tactically spot on to turn round a first-leg deficit and instil a genuine promotion belief in his team; this time he was out-thought and out-manoeuvred by the wily Nigel Clough.

So one of the sweetest memories of the Parkinson era was let down by a performance every bit as anaemic as the ones at Gillingham and Sheffield United a few weeks back.

Once more, the vision of a top-six finish seems as distant as ever.

City have won just once in 14 games against teams above them in the table. Going on Saturday’s evidence, they don’t look a team capable of reversing that damning trend.

With Peterborough and Southend up next, Parkinson’s men have to come up with a solution straight away or risk seeing their season drift into mid-table nothingness.

The trip to Burton had been billed as the chance to recreate what had gone on before.

Some survivors of that last glorious encounter are still going strong; others were expected to pick up the mantle from names etched in the minds of City fans.

No wonder they chanted the name of Gary Jones as they watched their team go under. On a day crying out for such a fist-pumping character, there were none.

It was no afternoon for faint hearts or soft centres as the rain and strong wind combined to make playing and watching even more unpleasant.

Burton played the way Burton always do. Nothing too flash and free-flowing but brimming with the enthusiasm to chase and close down and give the visitors absolutely no time on the ball.

The post-match argument that “they are nothing special” sounded patronising to the extreme. They may not knock in four or five every week – Jon McLaughlin’s exact words – but they are built on an organisation that you have to admire.

They top League One on merit. They deserve to be there in the same way that City currently look about right in 12th.

City never got a handle on Mark Duffy, playing in the “Billy Clarke” role just off centre forward Stuart Beavon. He always seemed able to find pockets of space and time in possession while claret and amber shirts toiled around him.

Parkinson had surprised many by going with a midfield diamond. Having talked up the contribution of his wingers last week, he went with neither.

It was a ploy that flunked with none of the four in that area able to make an impression. For the second week running, Chris Routis suffered the indignity of being hooked at half-time.

He had contributed little but he wasn’t alone. There were too many passengers.

Tony McMahon was guilty of giving the ball away too cheaply and Josh Morris flitted in and out.

Billy Knott started in the position he covets behind the front two but struggled to make an impression, a regular criticism when he plays away games.

And yet City should still have gone in level at half-time.

Burton’s 17th-minute opener had been coming after another slack start – another worrying trait that seems to happen more and more on City’s travels.

They had already survived a close-range miss by Lucas Akins before the home pressure forced the breakthrough.

Duffy’s cross was headed out by Rory McArdle as far as one-time loanee Mason Bennett, making his first senior start since playing for the Bantams at MK Dons 17 months earlier.

His first-time shot would not have troubled Ben Williams until it struck McArdle on the way and completed wrong-footed the keeper.

Jamie Proctor then wasted a decent chance to level, heading over a Knott cross.

But that was nothing on the gift-wrapped opportunity blown by Hanson after home defender Shane Cansdell-Sherriff failed to control a hopeful through ball by Routis.

Suddenly Hanson was clear and that goal against old pal McLaughlin that he had promised was sure to materialise. Instead he fired the wrong side of the post – and with it effectively went City’s ambitions of taking anything from the game.

A sustained chant of “attack, attack, attack” greeted the team for the second half. An understandably subdued away end came to life with the appearance of Mark Marshall.

Briefly there was hope as the substitute had least had a go, even if it didn’t always work out.

But Burton’s second goal snuffed that out – and underlined the gulf in desire between the teams.

Duffy kept a ball alive by the corner flag despite the attention of two players.

Then Tom Naylor, another to pass through the Valley Parade revolving door on a temporary basis, showed the determination to get on the end of Damien McCrory’s cross and hammer a volley goalwards from the edge of the box.

Williams was unlucky; he tipped it up onto the bar but the rebound crashed down against him and over the line. But that put the game to bed.

With City beaten, Beavon then had room to cross low for Duffy to tap in a third goal that his personal display had justified.

The visitors did manage the scantest of consolations at the death as McArdle spoiled McLaughlin’s clean sheet against his old club, flicking home from a corner with the scantest of deflections off McCrory.

Much too little, much too late. Those memories of Burton away are no longer quite so golden.