ACCRINGTON Stanley boss John Coleman was left rueing a “lottery” as his side exited the Carabao Cup on penalties at Burton.

New signing Cameron Burgess’ late leveller  in the 1-1 draw took the game to a shoot-out after Lucas Akins had put the hosts in front just after the half hour.

It was Ben Garratt who took the headlines, saving Stanley’s first two spot kicks from Joe Pritchard and Matt Burcher as the Brewers prevailed 4-2 on penalties.

“We didn’t lose the game” he said, “but we lost the penalty competition which as we always say is a lottery.

“It’s disappointing as we practised penalties yesterday and the two lads who missed buried theirs in the opposite corners so I am not sure why they changed their minds.

“We looked a bit tentative in the first half and a little bit rusty but I thought they did too.

“There was only one shot on target in the first half and that was the goal. We upped the tempo a bit second half and were better and brighter but there weren’t many chances.

“We have scored a good goal from a great cross by Callum (Johnson) and then Toby (Savin) has made a good save right at the end.

“It was a war of attrition but I think Burton’s experience showed against what is a young team but having said that we still drew the game.”

There were four debutants for Stanley at the Pirelli Stadium with Burgess, Butcher, Ryan Cassidy and Tom Allan all getting the nod to start.

Defender Ross Sykes was captain for the game with youngster Toby Savin in goal for the Reds.

Burton, in manager Jake Buxton’s first game in charge, started well without testing Savin with both John Brayford and Charles Vernam firing narrowly off-target.

Stanley had their first chance on 19 minutes when Pritchard wasn’t far off with a long-range effort.

At the other end, Akins also had a go from distance and it was just over the bar before the Brewers opened the scoring on 32 minutes when Joe Powell fed Akins in the area and he cut inside and curled the ball into the far corner past Savin.

Burton created two early chances after the restart, both blocked, as they looked for a second while Butcher unleashed a fierce effort which was just wide for the Reds.

Brayford then fired over for the hosts before Savin was in action to keep out a header from Kane Hemmings.

Stanley equalised on 82 minutes when Johnson worked hard on the right wing and played the ball into the box to Dion Charles. The striker fired goalwards, Burton didn’t deal with it and Burgess was there at close range to fire home on his debut.

Then Savin was the hero in injury time, pulling off a stunning save to keep out a Powell strike to send the game to penalties, but it was Burton who ran out winners.