Five hand Buxton a boost for Cobblers showdown
BURTON Albion will welcome back five senior players today after they ended periods of Covid-19-related self-isolation.
Lucas Akins, Kieran O’hara, Charles Vernam, Joe Powell and Ben Fox will all be in the squad for the game against fellow League One strugglers Northampton Town at the Pirelli Stadium (3pm).
Of the senior players, a further two, Colin Daniel and Kieran Wallace, have yet to return but, compared to last week against Hull City, manager Jake Buxton will actually have selection decisions to make.
Since their depleted squad went down 2-0 to Hull, the Brewers have had a careful week of rest and recovery, mixing training with some time off.
An announcement about who would be available was left later than usual to account for isolation periods running their course and all the players returning were given cardiac screenings yesterday morning. Buxton says the mood in training was upbeat ahead of a game he is reluctant to label as a “mustwin” – while acknowledging it as close to one befitting the description as there can be so early in the season. Northampton, promoted from
It’s a bit early to be calling it a must-win game but we’ve missed opportunities playing at home
Jake Buxton
League Two but having had a string of key players leave since, have won only one of their last five League games, away to bottom club Wigan Athletic, and were dumped out of the FA Cup by National League South side Oxford City a fortnight ago.
They are four points better off than Burton, who have now gone 13 games in all competitions without a win, 10 of them in the League.
“We have been saying, it’s probably a bit early to be calling it a mustwin game but we’ve missed opportunities playing at home,” said Buxton.
“We’ve picked up some good points on the road but there are games in which we believe we should be beating the opposition at home.
“We have to take our opportunities. We went into games against
Rochdale and Blackpool when we believed, with the correct performance, the outcome would be good and we’d pick up points.
“We didn’t – and we expect a different outcome against Northampton, a positive performance and a decent outcome.
“If we’re going to progress up the table and get ourselves out of trouble, we have to be winning our home games.”
The return of the five, who were able to train fully yesterday, helped to lift the mood in training, said the manager.
“Training was really good,” said Buxton.
“We had a clear week this week, to refresh, which was nice.
“We’ve got a few more back into training and we’ve been able to give players who have had a lot of minutes some more recovery time.
“Training (yesterday) was as good as it’s been in a long time. The lads look a lot fresher and I’m hoping we get a good performance.”
Asked about how he lifted the players after the triple disappointments of Shrewsbury Town’s stoppage-time equaliser, an FA Cup defeat against Barnet and defeat for a depleted team against Hull in their last three games, Buxton said: “I had to do very little this week.
“I think how we managed the week in terms of the work/rest ratio was good and Friday was very bright and sharp, exactly how training should be, both from the lads who’ve had a lot of game time and those who haven’t.
“They gave me a lot of food for thought for picking the side because there were some outstanding performances.”
Apart from Wallace and Daniel, the squad will also be missing Jack Roles and Teddy Sharman-lowe, who both picked up niggles on international duty, with Cyprus under21s and England Under-18s respectively, last week, as well as Sam Hughes, suspended after being sent off against Hull City last week.
Kane Hemmings is also unlikely to be available after injuring his quad in the warm-up last week.
“Kane did it in the last kick of the shooting before the game,” said Buxton.
“But he is doing quite well and progressing better than expected, so we’ll see how he develops.
Apart from that, Buxton and his staff will be wary about the fitness of those returning either from isolation or a mild dose of Covid-19.
Stephen Quinn returned from his last week but found the going tough and either the after-effects of the virus or the time away from training could be factors.
“Quinny had his screening on Saturday morning (last week) and, due to the numbers, we needed him to be available,” said Buxton.
“He lasted 50 minutes. He didn’t feel great when he was on the pitch and felt dizzy when he came off. It was important we got him off the pitch.
“I’d asked him how he felt and he thought he was OK to play but once the game got going, he struggled with it.
“If you’ve stayed away from the club for 10 days, regardless of whether you’ve had the virus or not, you’re still going to feel a bit undercooked fitness-wise.”