Score predictions - Burton away

After the humbling at Old Trafford, we return to league action this week and a trip to the Pirelli Stadium to face Burton Albion. The Brewers are 20th in league 1 with 4 points, no wins, but just 1 league defeat to their name so far. The bookies therefore have them as 29/10 outsiders to claim their first victory of the season, with the Reds as 10/11 favourites to get back to winning ways in the league, after defeat at Stevenage last weekend.

Burton have started the season with a defeat to Lincoln and a draw with Stevenage at home. Coincidentally, in the cup competitions, they've won 1 and lost 1 at home, in very differing fashion. Their BSM trophy win over Leicester u23s saw them rally to score 3 second half goals. Their League cup exit to Blackpool, saw them reduced to 10 men early, but remain resilient until deep into the second half, when the Seasiders scored 4 goals in the final 20 minutes. They amassed just 25 points at home last season; all other sides who gained 25 or less points at home last season were relegated.

This will be our 7th visit to the Pirelli stadium, having first played the Brewers 8 years ago. We've won 2, drawn 2 and lost 2 of the other 6 fixtures. A couple of goalless draws were followed by a 4-2 reds win, notable for a Joe Williams thunderbastard. Burton won the next 2 meetings, the 2nd of which being memorable for an excellent goalkeeping display by former Brewers Centre half, John Brayford. Our last visit back in April, saw the Reds overturn a half time deficit to win 3-1, courtesy of a John McAtee brace, and a Luca Connell strike.

There are as many as 3 former Reds in the Burton ranks, most notably Harry Isted. The former Luton loanee stopper was in goal for the Reds during their last defeat at Burton 18 months ago, and of course was instrumental in the Reds reaching the play-off final in 2023. Jason Sraha has recently signed for the Brewers after a year at Shrewsbury following his Reds departure. The former Arsenal academy centre half made 2 appearances for the Reds under Martin Devaney's first spell as caretaker manager, both in the Championship, in defeats to Preston and West Brom. Tomas Kalinauskas signed for the Reds from Farnborough in 2021, had spells out on loan at Wimbledon and Havant & Waterlooville before being released last summer, where he joined up with Den Bosch in the Dutch 2nd tier. He never made a competitive appearance for the Reds, though did make his international debut for Lithuania whilst on the books at Oakwell. In the Reds ranks, there are 2 former Brewers. Josh Earl spent a brief loan spell at the Pirelli Stadium in 2021, making 8 appearances on loan from Preston. Davis Keillor-Dunn appeared 17 times for Burton in 2022/23, netting 6 times in all competitions, including a winner against Wednesday and a Hattrick against Accrington, before dropping down a league to join Mansfield in the January window.

Given the poor performance at Stevenage, and the heavy, albeit inevitable, defeat at Old Trafford, it's likely that changes will be made by Darrell Clarke for this one. Given Pines could still be injured, the back 3 sort of picks itself. I suggest it most weeks, but I'd really like to see Kyren Lofthouse given a chance from the start, particularly as for me, he's showed much more promise than Corey O'Keeffe. Ordinarily, the midfield would pick itself too, and I can see Keillor-Dunn back in after being cup-tied in the week. Cosgrove gets the nod ahead of Watters for me in attack.



Burton are expected to welcome players back from injury ahead of this one. The aforementioned Jason Sraha is yet to make his Brewers debut, but could feature in this one. Young midfielder Charlie Webster is also said to be nearing full fitness, and also waits to make his first Burton appearance. Kiwi stopper Max Crocombe rates highest for the season on Fotmob for the Brewers, with an average score of 7.4; he's kept 2 clean sheets, and rates highly in the division for claiming crosses into the box. Top scorer Billy Bodin missed the Rotherham game through injury last week, and it's thought he might not make this one. The Welshman has 3 goals in his 4 appearances so far this season, including a brace against Mansfield. Sportsmole predicts just 1 change from last weekends draw with Rotherham:



Dean Whitestone is the referee. He took charge of our 4-2 victory away at Wycombe last season, dismissing Wanderers midfielder, David Wheeler, within seconds of coming on as a sub. Primarily a championship referee, he hasn't taken charge of a Burton game since their 3-2 away defeat at Southend back in April 2019. He's taken charge of 4 games so far this season, issuing 14 yellow cards but no reds or penalties. He did take charge of Sheffield Wednesday's recent 4-0 defeat at Sunderland, a game I watched, and I don't remember him having a particularly stand out performance, which I guess is good for a referee.

Burton are a difficult side to beat it seems, drawing their last 4 league encounters. Clarke expects a reaction from his players after back to back poor results, albeit it differing circumstances. We are still leaky at the back, and if we're expecting 'a reaction' I can see us being a little too gung-ho and exposing ourselves defensively. I fancy us to win though, and I predicting 2-1 to the Reds with DKD and Cosgrove getting the goals. I've backed Barnsley to win, btts and DKD to score anytime at a shade under 6/1 (P/ L = - £0.30)

 

We should be winning this 1-3

 

2-1 Reds. DKD with 2 goals.

 

2-1 Burton

 

Can’t see us keeping a clean sheet, but I do see us scoring, either 3-1 or 3-2 us

 

We’ll need to score 3 to win I reckon with that keeper and back line. I’ll go 2-2.

 

1-0 Burton

 

4-0 Reds.

Burton are pap.

 

Burton 3 Reds 1. Unless there is a big, unexpected improvement

 

Burton Dummies 0 Colliers 2

 

Think Clarkey’s reaction may not come to fruition, heads are down 2-2

 

Don't be daft...

 

We don't seem capable of clean sheets so I'll go for 2-2 DKD and Phillips.

 

Burton 3 reds 1. More woeful defending

 

I watched Burton v Lincoln. They're
very quick and incisive going forward. However, they're also extremely vulnerable on crosses. Going for a high-scoring game. 4-2 to Burton, cue Chernobyl-style meltdown on here.