Fleetwood Town make their second away trip in five days when they travel to play Burton Albion at the Pirelli Stadium on Saturday.
By David MitchellFleetwood Town make their second away trip in five days when they travel to play Burton Albion at the Pirelli Stadium on Saturday.
Burton are relative newcomers to the Football League, starting their fourth season. Town’s defence have performed well so far but will need to be on their mettle following the Brewers 6-2 demolition of AFC Wimbledon at home on Tuesday night.
After his side’s narrow defeat at Bradford City, Town manager, Micky Mellon, wants to see his players returning to the type of game that they know well:
‘We need to get the ball down and pass it again. I was disappointed at Bradford because we weren’t brave enough to get the football down to feet and retain it for longer periods. We wanted to get it up to Jon Parkin far too quickly. Nobody seemed to want to take it off the goalkeeper. We had a great opportunity to do just that in a magnificent arena with a beautiful pitch. That’s the message we’ve been working on in training. We need to get back to the way we recognise ourselves playing rather than be influenced by others.’
Despite suffering their first defeat, Mellon feels that his players are already getting a measure of the league:
‘I thought we played well against Torquay and deserved all three points. We also had the better chances against Bradford and probably deserved to come out with something. We know that Burton will be tough opposition and that we’ll have to work hard to get anything from the game.’
The Conference champions will once again be able to pick from strength with everyone getting through Tuesday’s game unscathed. A number of players were also involved in Wednesday’s Lancashire Cup victory at Bury. With Town still waiting to record their first League 2 goal, the management will have been pleased with a 5-1 scoreline and goals for Andy Mangan (2), Alex Marrow, Ryan Crowther and Steven Gillespie against young and enthusiastic opposition.
Mellon’s opposite number, Gary Rowett, is likely to keep an unchanged line-up. Rowett has defender Marcus Holness and midfielder Lee Bell available after suspension and there is a chance that striker Calvin Zola will be in the squad for the first time after hip and knee injuries but the manager is almost certain to keep faith with his winning side.
With four goals in a 19 minute first half spell against Wimbledon, Albion recorded their first points of the campaign after losing 3-0 to title favourites Rotherham United on the opening day. Rowett was understandably full of praise for his side, as he told the ‘Burton Mail’:
‘I think the first half was probably the best 45 minutes we’ve produced as a League club. The finishing was absolutely brilliant. I am delighted that the six goals came from different people. I do like to reward people if they are doing well and you couldn’t single out anyone who didn’t do well against Wimbledon.’
Rowett, a former Derby County defender, will also be well aware that his defence have conceded five goals in the two games so far. Title favourites Rotherham United put three past them on the opening day and the damage had been done by the time the Dons scored two late consolation goals on Tuesday but Rowett still believes that there is ‘an awful lot of work to do on that front.’
‘We’ll come in on Thursday and sit down and look at things we did well and those that we didn’t.’
Meanwhile, the popular 'Codcast' service will no longer be available. Instead, the club will broadcast updates via Twitter for home and away games.
Club communications manager Derick Thomas said "The software solution behind the Codcast is now a pay service and the cost of delivering 50-odd broadcasts over the season is prohibitive. That's an understandable move by the provider as the free service was often unreliable. Twitter is an alternative but, unfortunately, does not provide that sense of community brought by the Codcast. The club will endeavour to look for an alternative solution and bring the online Codcast community back together."
