Don’t panic Captain Mainwering (sorry, Chambers), normal service has been resumed. After an off colour 45 minutes against Bradford which allowed the game to get away from us (despite a strong fightback in the end), last weekend’s game against Wigan was about as comprehensive a performance as we could have hoped for (ok, being greedy, maybe a few more goals would have been nice), meaning we go into our Tuesday night’s, re-arranged fixture against Burton Albion at the CCS is good shape and full of confidence. No doubts many will be expecting a cricket score for the high flying Bluebirds, but as we all know, the underdog can often have a nasty bite – just ask Europe’s Ryder Cup players how many scars they’ll be carrying for a while, despite their ultimate victory, so BBM will once again need to have our blue shirted machine oiled, tuned and ready to roar once again!! Who Are You? Burton Albion were formed just 75 years ago in 1950 and initially joined the Birmingham & District League before switching to the Southern League eight years later. Stints in the Southern League Premier Division followed as well as some time in the Northern Premier League before being promoted as Northern Prem Champions in 2001, earning them a place in the then named Conference League (now the National League). Nigel Clough spent seven seasons as the club's player-manager in the Conference and eventually led them into the Football League as champions of the Conference in 2008–09. They lost the 2014 League Two play-off final, but went on to win the League Two title in 2014–15 and were promoted from League One in 2015–16. The club spent two seasons in the Championship until relegation back to the 3rd tier in 2018. Current gaffer Gary Bowyer has been in the Pirelli hot seat since December 2024, having previously managed Blackburn, Blackpool, Bradford, Salford and Dundee. With 11 wins from 38 games in charge of the Brewers, Bowyer’s win ration stands just under a modest 29%, the lowest total of his managerial career to date. Their squad doesn’t really contain any notable names as far as I can see, but current to scorer is midfielder Charlie Webster with just 2 from his 7 games. In their recent 0-0 away at Huddersfield (good result for them), the line was led by Jake Beesley (formerly of Blackpool & Rochdale) and St Kitts and Nevis forward Tyrese Shade (formerly at Leicester in his younger days, though he didn’t make an appearance but has since played for Swindon & Eastleigh amongst others). As this is the Brewers we are talking about here, I also have to mention the aptly named ‘Kegs’ Chauke (full name Kgaogelo Chauke) – let’s hope he doesn’t go down too easy if he plays against us! First And Last Our first ever meeting with the Brewers was just a mere 15 years ago, back in August of 2010 in a League Cup Game at the CCS. The final result that day being a 4-1 win for the City, although that doesn’t tell the whole story, with the match actually having to go to extra time to settle it. At 90 minutes the scores were level at 1-1 with the Bluebirds taking the lead on 17 minutes through Jay Bothroyd, only to see Burton peg us straight back just 2 minutes later through Shaun Harrad. The 30 minutes extra time however proved too much for Burton as Ross McCormack (2) and Michael Chopra got on the score sheet to see off our plucky opponents (what a striking line up we had in those days!!). Jay Bothroyd - the only player to be capped for England at a full level whilst playing for the Bluebirds - let's face it why would we want to help out England anyhow? Last time out saw the City run out comfortable 3-1 winners in a Championship game at the CCS in March 2018, the year we last achieved promotion (premonitions anyone??). Sadly for Burton, they changed division in the other direction. Our goals that day came from Zahore, Mendez-Laing and Callum Paterson, with the match played out in front of just over 21,000 expectant fans. Form The Brewers have been struggling massively this season. Bottom of the table, with just 1 win to their name which came on the opening day of the season v Mansfield, so it’s already looking like a huge battle for Burton to retain their League 1 status. One clear area that Burton are struggling is scoring goals. They have the worst attack in the division and have managed just 5 in their 8 matches so far, and only 1 of those has come in their last 6 games. Defensively they fare slightly better, having the 7th worst defence in the division having conceded 14 in those 8 games. Rather conversely though, taking just Burton’s away form into account, we see that they actually have the 5th BEST defence away from home ‘comforts’, suggesting that it could be a long 90 minutes trying to break down a stubborn rearguard action at the CCS on Tuesday. On The Pitch After a dominant performance away at Wigan with a starting 11 that threw upma few surprises again, it’ll be interesting to see where BBM goes next. A CB pairing of Chambers and Osho was unexpected, but having kept a clean sheet we may see the same again. Robbo starting up top ahead of Salech was perhaps less of a shock given his form heading into the Wigan game, but having drawn a blank and with Salech netting late on from the spot, could we see a return for the big Dane? Predicted Starting 11 Trott Bagan Osho Chambers Ng Wintle Colwill (J) Colwill (R) Ashford Davies Salech The Odds No real surprise to see us as strong favourites for this one given respective form and positions, however our Bluebirds will need to be on top form going forward in order to pick up another valuable 3 points that could even see us return to top spot if we manage to do the business. C’mon The City!!!!
