Burton Albion v Torquay United - 12/1/12

[AustrianAndyGull]

After a 10 day break, the Gulls fly up to Staffordshire looking to bounce back from another poor result when they take on Burton Albion at the Pirelli Stadium. Torquay have already twice put in poor performances and failed to win over the festive period when seemingly having the advantage of an extended break over their respective opponents due to postponed matches and they are hoping it will be third time lucky. The trend of struggling against sides near the bottom continued with a draw at Plymouth and a loss at home to AFC Wimbledon, both last minute hammer blows to the men in yellow but they also hope to continue the trend that sees them continue to get decent results against teams at the top of league 2.

Going to Burton with a full strength squad would have been tough enough given their current home form but considering our injury problems i will be happy with a point so long as it isn't generated in the usual predictable manner. We need wins now not draws and if we get a draw going for the win i'll be more than happy, if we lose going for the win then it's not the end of the world, we can move on to the next game for the 3 points. Either way, points win prizes and Dale Winton himself says that we now need wins and the next month or so is critical if we are to keep tabs on the last play off spot.

We have the luxury of a returning Brian Saah who has completed his 3 match ban for his red card at Bradford City but not the luxury of the prospect of an easy afternoon against old BSP foes spearheaded by Torquay old boy Billy Kee. The Brewers have been able to push for a play off spot this season thanks to the goals of Kee plus the pace and power and MORE goals from Congolese strike partners Jacques Maghoma and Calvin Zola. In short they have purpose in their attack whilst we may as well have a purpoise in attack. Kee has 8 goals in all comps whilst Maghoma has 8 too and top scorer is Zola with 11. Fish jewel has 4 also ( Zander Diamond ) and they have a host on 3, 2 and 1 goals respectively with a total of 15 different scorers. We have 11 different scorers and fewer goals from them.

Their home form is better than ours by virtue of two more wins and having lost only twice and in those games they have a goals ratio of 28 scored and 14 conceded so all in all this game is going to be another toughie. I have good memories of the Pirelli Stadium having been each season since we were promoted and we have won twice (2-0 first time, Rendell and Benners if memory serves) and 4-1 last season. In between was a cracking 3-3 draw. Given the recent history for goals in our games there, the fact that they have won 8 at home scoring 28, have lots of attacking options, our inability to keep a clean sheet, the fact that they have only twice failed to score at home and scoring 3 times on five occasions AND because they have gone 15 since a 0-0 draw then i have no option but to predict a resounding Brewers victory with a brace from Kee. I think we will nick a goal early and try to hang on but get totally outplayed for 80% of the match ultimately shipping at least 3. I'll go for a 3-1 home win but i fear an away mullering in this one for some strange reason in my water, well, in my bladder if we want to get all technically biological about it.

Burton Albion sit just outside the play offs, a point off in 10th place and on 39 points from 26 games. Their squad is a decent one with a few unknowns in there like former Villa trainee Jack Dyer who has potential, some real experienced old heads like defencers John McGrath, Nathan Stanton, Zander Diamond and Aaron Webster who offer the Brewers a solid base. Indeed boss Gary Rowett wasn't too concerned with the 3-0 defeat at York in their last league game as Diamond was ill and so a new defensive partnership had to be formed. He excused the shipping of three goals because of this primarily. Makes you compare him with Ling and it it becomes apparent how astute Ling has been in managing our forced rotating of the defence this season.

In midfield they have former Crewe man Lee Bell who played with Bodin during their time there and former Greeks loanee Cleveland Taylor and up front they have the trio i mentioned plus Adi Yussuf, a Tanzanian striker formerly of Leicester and Tamworth as well as former Shrimper Matt Paterson and on loan Leicester striker Jacob Blyth who sounds like he should be a shoe polisher on the dirty streets of victorian England. They have also signed 19 year old Man City winger Adam Drury on a month loan and he made his debut in their 2-0 FA Cup defeat to Leicester City last saturday. Both Justin Richards and Lewis Montrose have been farmed out on loan to Oxford United also and veteran defender Andrew Corbett, brother of Jesus H ( for fans of Bottom ) has gone on loan to Hereford United.

I am putting the squad last time out in the LEAGUE v York and not the one that played in the FA Cup at Leicester as i believe the squad below will be more similar to the one that will face us. Zander Diamond may well return to the starting 11 after illness.

1. Dean Lyness (gk)
2. Aaron Webster
3. Anthony O'Connor ( on loan from Blackburn Rovers )
4. Marcus Holness
5. Robbie Weir
6. Damien McCrory
7. Jacques Maghoma
8. Jack Dyer
9. Lee Bell
10. Calvin Zola
11. Billy Kee

SUBS: Ross Atkins (gk) ( on loan from Derby County ) UNUSED, John McGrath ( on for Weir on 85 mins ), Cleveland Taylor ( on for O'Connor on 52 minutes ), Chris Palmer UNUSED, Jimmy Phillips ( on for Maghoma on 85 mins ), Matt Paterson UNUSED.

The Pirelli Stadium was opened in 2005 at a cost of £6.5 million after the midlands club left their old Eton Park ground which was literally just across the road. It is all you would expect from a new-build except it has three sides devoted to terracing, including the away end which is standard but one of the better terrace views in the division. It has a capacity just a few shy of 7000 and the away fans are housed in the 1400 capacity COORS EAST STAND TERRACE. Away seating is also available on the end of the main stand. The pies are ok if memory serves but the fries and other sundries were appalling. You can also get beer inside i believe and there is a tv where you can watch sky sports.

The stadium is easy to find and to the north of the town on the A5121 Derby Road and there is a fairly decent sized car park at the ground itself which i believe is a couple of quid but there is plenty of parking on nearby streets or on the trading estate nearby. The only pub i know of is The Beech which is heading up Derby Road for about half a mile on the left and just a bit further up is a McDonalds on the same side. There is also a co-op supermarket across the road from the ground but anything else and you might wish to venture into the town itself. The railway station is a mile and a half from the ground unless you're hammered and then it's double that.

Most of you may have already been to Burton, especially as we were regular opponents in the BSP but for those who haven't here is a quick town of the day!

Burton upon Trent is a small town just on the Staffordshire / Derbyshire border and many people are mistaken for thinking it is in Derbyshire. It isn't, it is in Staffordshire. A county well reputed for fine ceramics as well as dogs owned largely by morons wearing tracky bottoms and burberry hats.

Anyway, Burton has a Roman history with the Roman road RYKNILD STREET running through the town on it's way to the camp at LETOCETUM near Lichfield ( worth visiting if you have the time ) and Burton Abbey was mentioned in the Domesday Book but apart from the breweries at Bass and Marstons, the National Brewery Centre and the commemorative statue of THE BURTON COOPER inside the shopping centre, there isn't a lot to recommend it. For our American members, the town is twinned with ELKHART in INDIANA. Bet you'll sleep tonight knowing that! I'm not going to slag the town off as it's pretty dull and unassuming but not a bad place compared to some.

I don't know how many Gulls fans will be there, our northern away games have been really poor in terms of away fans which i can understand but i would hope for a few more of us singers in attendance other than the 6 or 7 at Bradford.

I'm going to this one, as always and just to be extra annoying, the ground is just 34 miles from my house and will take me less than an hour to get there and to get home again! WHOOPPPEEEE!! I reckon it will be a really tough game, but a good one and we will lose 3-1 having took the lead through Howe.

Apologies for this matchday thread being normal, there should be an 'abnormal' one along very soon but hope it is ok for you guys. I shall put up the details of the match officials when they become available.

Cheers all!

[Jeff]

Going to this, first away day in a while.

Always enjoy going to Burton. Easy enough to get too, ample parking, nice ground as well. And the 2 games I've seen have delivered 11 goals.

You look at the personnel in that squad and wonder how are they doing better than us. Man for man I'd say we are better than them (apart from maybe their forward line), which makes you wonder why we aren't doing better (cue arguments about tactics)

A big game - if we can get our act together and get a result it will be a big 3 points and we can start thinking about playoffs again. Lose - particularly to a late goal - and we're stuck badly in a rutt

[SuperNickyWroe]

another nice matchday thread.

and what do you mean extra??? 8/

[tufc si]

As much as I love him, I hope Kee has a shocker!!

[ferrarilover]

This will be our toughest trip to Burton. We had our easiest trip there last year (they were so bad even Taiwo scored). Maghoma and Kee as well as Zola are all likely to pop up with goals at any time. I haven't the will to look it up, but I seem to recall all three of them firing together in one match earlier this season and winning about 6-0. If it happens again, it could be the same result this weekend if we aren't careful. Burton are a funny side. In many ways they're like us, not really 'big' enough to compete in a division featuring Plymouth and Bradford, but seem to do disproportionately well.
I quite like Burton's ground, parking is easy and there's plenty of room so it should be reasonably good fun. In remember the goal that Danny scored for us in our second Conference year to beat them 1-0, but only from having seen it on the telly. I was busy trying to attract the attention of one Paul Bastard to tell him that the programme seller had brought him a copy of the match day magazine, and, in so doing, I missed the goal. Not a classic anecdote, but relevant enough here.
What has happened to the talk of Billy going to a Championship outfit for a million quid?

Matt.

[bixieupnorth]

me and my wednesday mate will be there, 10am meet at the sheffield tap, about 8 or us making the trip down, but six of them are 'only here for the beer' and will be staying out drinking all day, the burton bridge inn before the game, and the coopers tavern after are my plans, and probably a stop off in derby on the way home too. they're planning on doing the national brewery thing while we go to the match.

always entertaining at burton, usually a good few goals too and cheapest ground to get in that i've visited in last few years

i think we'll be in for a tough time, and am plumping for a 2-1 defeat, howe with 187 gulls watching

[AustrianAndyGull]

The referee for this one is Mr TONY HARRINGTON. No disrespect but can't say i've heard of him, he has only reffed a handful of football league games having spent most of his time in the BSP and has never reffed a game involving us. Hope he has a good game. His linesmen ( i've stopped calling them assistants as they are linesmen and always will be, they assist too but they are linesmen! ) anyway , they are Mr Matthew Bristow and Nicholas Gibbons. The 4th official is Mr Paul Thompson.

The weather forecast for Burton on saturday is dry initially but rain expected late afternoon, cloudy and about 5 degrees.

[RussianGull]

This is usually a staple in my away days but I'm not feeling the trip this season.

It'd be good to see Yeoman getting a goal, but I don't see us coming away from the Pirelli with anything more than a point.

[AustrianAndyGull]

another nice matchday thread.
and what do you mean extra??? 8/

Thanks Chris for the very kind words and for the second bit - P*SS OFF!!!

Just to let everyone know that i've fallen in love with Burton Albion FC. Why?

£14 to stand on the terrace and £2 to park in the club car park.

So for the usual £20 or so quid we'd pay at many grounds in our league, at Burton you can get in, get a programme, a coffee and perhaps a pie or sausage roll for the price of a usual ticket just about. That is the way it should be.

The seats are £16. No club in our division should be charging more than £15 a ticket IMO. So well done Burton.

[jonnyfive]

Agreed, and they also have an excellent set-up whereby one passes through the turnstyles to enter a beer-garden!

[AustrianAndyGull]

Burton are at 11/10 and that is pretty much nicking money. The draw is at 12/5 which is also the same price as a Gulls win.

Bily Kee is at 5/1 to score first which is also stealing money whilst Howe is at 11/2. Bodin is at 7/1 and that is pretty much wasting money.

[tufc si]

Burton are at 11/10 and that is pretty much nicking money. The draw is at 12/5 which is also the same price as a Gulls win.

Bily Kee is at 5/1 to score first which is also stealing money whilst Howe is at 11/2. Bodin is at 7/1 and that is pretty much wasting money.

You almost sound confident of a Gulls win Andy! :-\

I'm quietly confident at mo, reckon we'll put in a decent showing tomorrow and come away with 3 points, it's about time our season got kick started!

Congrats to Macdonald, he's done a fine job stepping in to Saah's shoes, but as he's now served his suspension he'll probably be back starting along with Downes and think these two will handle Zola and Kee just fine!! Hope Yeoman gets to keep his starting position too and he can continue where he left off against the Wombles

[AustrianAndyGull]

Haha. If only i had some money to put on a Burton win i'd be nicking money.

It's a no brainer that Saah has to come in and i also think Yeoman should start ( even if Jarvis was fully fit i reckon we should start Yeoman now ). I am concerned about Kee because he packs a punch from distance does our Billy and if we back off him he is liable to pop one in from 25 yards.

[bixieupnorth]

up ready and nervous as usual before i begin my journey to an away game!! who knows what the day will hold, lots of silly giggling with the boys for a start, a gallon or so of top english ale also guaranteed, the weather looks set to be cold and dry which is also good, £14 in which is, as andy rightfully says, spot on for the 4th division.....so the only thing that could possibly spoil it is the match itself!

i'm fearing the worst, even with saah back again, if dreams were to come true we'd go for it from the start as we did there last year, or id even settle for the 3-3 draw from the visit before??

lets see then. off in 40 mins after the little dogs been walked!

yellow army!!

[miltonkeynesgull]

Setting off for this before too long, will be my 4th trip to Burton and I'm yet to see us lose, so bizarre as it seems I'm quietly confident of a result.

Whilst Burton's home form is excellent, and our away form is anything but, Rene has scored in our last 3 meetings with them, we've only lost against them once at the Pirelli in five trips there, and eight out of our twelve meetings in total have been draws or Torquay wins, so there's reason for a little optimism.

Lingy has a little selection dilemma with Saah and Bodin returning. I think both may return, as we could do with that little extra experience for an away game. it might be a bit harsh on MacDonald if he was dropped, but I'd agree on bringing Bodin back in for Yeoman, despite how well he apparently played against Wimbledon.

Hopefully we can keep Kee and Zola quiet, and perhaps sneak it by the odd goal for a 2-1. Think we'd settle for a point at this stage though. COYY!