It’s 500 up in EFL for Brewers but they need a result to enjoy it
MILESTONE ARRIVES WHILE ALBION ARE ON BACK FOOT
BURTON Albion will play their 500th Football League match tomorrow, managed by one of the men, Jake Buxton, who helped them to get out of the Conference as a player in the 2008-09 season.
As it happens, they will also be in same county in which they ended their non-League days, a little further on than Torquay United for a League One game against Plymouth Argyle (3pm).
The 500-game milestone will mean little, however, if the Brewers do not find a way of addressing their current problems.
Three consecutive 4-2 defeats have put quite a dampener on what had appeared to be a promising start both to the season and to Buxton’s management career.
A lengthy list of injuries and a string of individual mistakes by those who have been playing, especially in the last three games, have handed Buxton a big test.
He maintains that it is an issue the players are as determined to put right as he is.
“It would be nice to mark the 500th game with a win – and a clean sheet,” said Buxton.
“I was part of the group who got the club out of the Conference. How quick that time has gone but it’s a great achievement for the club and long may it continue.
“A clean sheet would be a massive boost too. You don’t get much given to you but, at the start of every game, you are given a clean sheet.
“We have two important away fixtures (Bristol Rovers follow the Plymouth game) and I want to see a clean sheet mentality, a gang mentality, sticking together, working hard for the team and being hard to beat.”
Buxton noted that if anyone was fighting shy of the challenge, a long trip to Devon might be the sort of game they wanted to miss – but that has not happened. “It was an important message to me that everyone wanted to get out there and train for Plymouth away,” he said. “There was great mentality, a great atmosphere in training, with people wanting to make sure the team does well.” The biggest problem has been conceding goals from setplays, notably corners, with Cambridge United adding one more goal from a corner to the list in Tuesday night’s EFL Trophy game. The players worked on the issue again in training yesterday.
“Heading and set-plays again,” said Buxton.
“The mentality of trying to get your body between the goal and the ball, making sure you can head it when it comes into the box, having that real desire to have the first contact.
“With people coming back into the squad who have played that role for most of their careers, who understand that role and have a burning desire to get their head on the ball when it comes into the box, I’m hoping the problems from set-plays will stop. It’s not for the lack of work.”
The Brewers played 3-5-2 against Cambridge, albeit with a depleted squad, and may do so again. Despite the defeat, Buxton maintained that Burton played well for a chunk of the game, not least when roaring into a 2-0 lead inside four minutes.
“It’s hard to be happy with a performance when you’ve lost 4-2 and we had individual errors for the goals conceded but, in general play, we dominated for large parts of the game and there were some good performances,” he said.
“The shape worked well. It (3-52) was something we worked on in the summer. It will work nicely with the players we have at the club, it will just be about having the players fit and available for selection to allow me to use it.
“With some reporting back who have been injured, it’s a formation we might use more frequently.”
I’m hoping the problems from setplays will stop. It’s not for the lack of work Jake Buxton