Tomorrow afternoon sees a short trip to the Pirelli Stadium to face 22nd-place Burton Albion. Both teams will have familiar faces to the opposition fans as Luke Murphy is currently with the Alex while Burton have John Brayford, Colin Daniel, Ben Garratt and player/coach Luke Varney in their playing squad.
This Season:
The league season started off with a defeat at Fleetwood Town before a home win against Accrington Stanley in the second matchday. From there it’s been a struggle, with their next (and so far only win since then) coming at home to Charlton Athletic a couple of games ago – they have had draws against Bristol Rovers, AFC Wimbledon, Peterborough United, Shrewsbury Town and Sunderland (that game having taken place on Tuesday night).
They lost 3-1 in the 2nd Round of the Carabao Cup against Aston Villa after knocking out Accrington Stanley on penalties in Round 1 and they were knocked out by Barnet in the 1st Round of the FA Cup against Darlington. In the EFL Trophy, they finished 3rd in their group following a win against Fulham’s Under-21 on penalties after back-to-back defeats against Peterborough United (again on pens) and Cambridge United.
Transfers:
Burton have made 13 signings this summer, 8 permanent ones, 4 season-long loans and one until January. Goalkeepers Kieran O’Hara and Teddy Sharman-Lowe (EOS loan from Chelsea having moved to Stamford Bridge from Burton in the summer) have joined from Manchester United and Chelsea respectively, defenders Neal Eardley, Michael Bostwick (both on loan from Lincoln City) and Sam Hughes (on loan until January) has joined from Leicester City. Midfielders Charles Vernam and Jack Roles (EOS loan) have arrived while forwards Steven Lawless, Kane Hemmings, Varney, Owen Gallacher, Indiana Vassilev and Niall Ennis (the latter 2 on EOS loans) complete the signings.
They have let 7 players go permanently while 2 youngsters have joined non-league sides on loan.
Head-to-Head:
Alex Wins: 4
Brewers Wins: 3
Draws: 3
Biggest Alex Win: 4-1 at the Alexandra Stadium in March 2011
Biggest Brewers Win: 3-1 at the Alexandra Stadium in September 2019 (EFL Trophy)
Last Meeting
Crewe Alexandra 1-3 Burton Albion, 3rd September 2019
The aforementioned biggest win for Burton is last season’s EFL Trophy meeting. Stephen Quinn gave the visitors the lead in the 13th minute before Scott Fraser doubled the lead midway through the first half. Lucas Akins would get their 3rd just before half-time with Paul Green getting the consolation 3 minutes from time.
Alex: Richards; Ng, Nolan, Hunt, Adebisi; Jones (Green 46), Finney (Wintle 46), Ainley (Pickering 46); Dale, Anene, Kirk
Brewers: O’Hara; Brayford (Anderson 84), O’Toole, Wallace, Hutchinson; Fraser (Beardsley 90), Quinn, Edwards; Sbarra, Akins, Templeton (Sarkic 70)
Played for Both:
The following players have been contracted to both teams:
Goalkeepers: Ben Garratt, Adam Legzdins, Martin Taylor, Stuart Tomlinson
Defenders: Patrick Ada, Ryan Austin, Danny Blanchett, Paul Boertien, John Brayford, David Gray, Adam Yates
Midfielders: Paul Bancroft, Lee Bell, Colin Daniel, Matty Lund, Luke Murphy, Kevin Stewart
Forwards: Martin Harris, Harold Mosby, Jon Newby, Alex Nicholls, Greg Pearson, Kevin Sheldon, Michael Symes, Derek Tomkinson, Luke Varney, Calvin Zola
Officials:
The officials for this game have been announced here with Andy Haines the referee, Alan Clayton and Danny Gratton are his assistants with Lisa Rashid the fourth official. During the last 5 seasons the following Crewe games have been refereed by Haines:
- Crewe Alexandra 1-2 Shrewsbury Town (28th December 2015) – Colclough
- Leyton Orient 0-2 Crewe Alexandra (29th October 2016) – Davis, Cooper
- Doncaster Rovers 3-1 Crewe Alexandra (21st January 2017) – Jones
- Wycombe Wanderers 3-2 Crewe Alexandra (26th September 2017) – Dagnall (2)
- MK Dons 0-1 Crewe Alexandra (19th January 2019) – Kirk
- Crewe Alexandra 0-0 Colchester United (22nd October 2019)
- Crewe Alexandra 3-1 Stevenage (7th March 2020) – Porter, Kirk, Wintle
Opposition View:
I asked Burton Albion supporter Ed Walker, co-host of the D3D4 podcast, for his thoughts going into the game and the season so far.
What do you think of your season so far?
It’s not been very good is the best way to sum it up!
The manager’s found himself in the deep end very quickly and it’s fair to say he’s found things difficult so far. There’s a sense though that the squad is gaining in confidence looking at the last couple of results and hopefully that can lead to a better second-third of the season than the first.
Are there any players that are missing for the Albion?
The only one of real note is our ‘Number 9’ Kane Hemmings and current top scorer. His goals have been important in every game they’ve come in so far but thankfully Burton are exclusively reliant on him to find the back of the net. Will be very nice to see him return though in the next couple of weeks.
What position do you feel you should have strengthened during the last transfer window?
The key areas last summer were to bring in a good quality striker following Liam Boyce’s departure in January and to sure up a defence that looked leaky in the back half of last season.
Kane Hemmings is certainly not the same kind of striker as Liam Boyce (no striker in League One is) but Kane has his own personal strengths and definitely could hit double figures come May. That would be a job well done from him in that case.
The defence has seen new faces in, but aside from Leicester loanee Sam Hughes, who has certainly caught the eye. The other arrivals though are on the wrong side of 30 and that has led to injury problems, particularly with Michael Bostwick who is undoubtedly a man mountain but not featured enough in the early part of the season. Hoping for a run of games from him now he’s back and looking fit.
Would still say now that CB is the area that needs addressing most, particuarly looking long-term.
What do you think the team will be?
It would probably be the XI that’s played the last 2 games because it’s looked the strongest team yet.
Kieran O’Hara in goal. Colin Daniel at left-back. Michael Bostwick and Sam Hughes at centre-back. John Brayford at right-back. Stephen Quinn and young Ciaran Gilligan in deep midfield. Joe Powell in a more advanced midfield position. Charles Vernam high up on the left, Ryan Edwards shifting between the right-wing and central midfield. Lucas Akins up front.
Good team for using a high press as shown with the 4-2 home win over Charlton Athletic recently.
Who are the Brewers danger man?
On current form, it would have to be Charles Vernam, a left-winger who came in from Grimsby during the summer. He’s the most direct player on the team. Very skillful and able to beat multiple players down the line, he plays inverted so that allows him to cut inside onto his stronger right foot. Vernam has scored in both of Burton’s last two games and fans will be hoping that he gets another one this weekend.
What would be a successful season for Burton this season?
Right now, staying up! No one was quite sure how Buxton would fare as Burton’s manager, and based on the first third of the season it’s going to be an uphill task. 20th or above is the target now. It seems the pressure on Buxton is external rather than internal. Feels like the board will back him regardless of how this season goes. If he can get this team out of the sticky situation they’re currently in then it’s something to build on for next season when we can finally go and watch them again!
