Burton and Crewe had to settle for a point apiece from a tightly-contested 1-1 draw at the Pirelli Stadium.

Both goals came late and from set pieces, Sam Hughes breaking the deadlock with a powerful back-post header from Joe Powell’s delivery after 76 minutes to put Albion ahead before Owen Dale sent a stunning overhead effort beyond Kieran O’Hara with two minutes to go from a Crewe corner.

The first half saw chances at a premium, with Charles Vernam looking likeliest to open the scoring with a long-range effort which was straight at Will Jaaskelainen, while O’Hara made an excellent stop to deny Tom Lowery just before the break.

Although Powell rippled the side-netting with another long-range Burton effort it was O’Hara keeping things level with more good stops to deny Ryan Wintle and Mikael Mandron.

Having given Burton the lead, Hughes was their saviour at the other end, clearing off the line to prevent a misplaced header from Colin Daniel dropping into his own net.

But Crewe piled on late pressure in search of the equaliser and it eventually came through Dale’s spectacular effort.