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| Evans strike keeps title rivals at 'Bay |
| Spring
is in the air, and the sweet, intoxicating scent of a league title success
is growing tantalisingly stronger for Burton Albion. It wasn't a great performance, but another 1-0 victory against Colwyn Bay at Eton Park today takes the Brewers a step closer to promotion. Four victories will win it now, although with the unpredictable form of the sides chasing them, the champagne could be popping even earlier than that, perhaps by the time Albion visit Rivacre Park, home of Vauxhall Motors, a fortnight on Wednesday. The Motormen won 2-1 against Bradford Park Avenue today and look like being the last remaining threat, although it would take a miracle for the Ellesmere Port side to overhaul the Brewers' 20-point margin at the top of the table. |
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| At
Eton Park, it was Steve Evans' 21st minute goal which seperated the sides,
Evans notching his 13th goal of the campaign with a sweetly struck right-foot
volley from Nigel Clough's high lofted ball into the box. Bay 'keeper Billy Stewart can take much of the credit for keeping the score at 1-0, he tipped rounda Moore header from another Clough cross in before half time, and had to stretch to deny the Brewers' stocky striker 15 minutes into the second half. Alan Bailey also came close with a header from Paul Talbot's corner which narrowly skimmed the crossbar, and Darren Stride had a goal disallowed for offside, but it was a tired looking performance from the Brewers, as the effects of a long, punishing season seem to be taking their toll on the players. There must be one last push before attention turns again to the FA Umbro Trophy, when Albion travel to Victoria Park, Burscough on Bank Holiday Monday (3pm). |
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| N-n-n-n-nineteen... |
| It
is surely now a question of 'when' and not 'if' the Brewers will end their
52-year wait for a league title, after Tuesday night saw all the dices fall
in Albion's favour once again. The Brewers' 1-0 win at Bamber Bridge, combined with yet more defeats for Altrincham and Lancaster, saw Albion's lead at the top extended to a massive nineteen points, meaning that even if their title rivals were to win all their remaining matches, just five wins out of nine for the Brewers between now and the end of the season would guarantee them the top spot. Despite intense Albion pressure in the first half at Irongate, a heroic goalkeeping display from Brig' 'keeper Cyril Sharrock restircted the Brewers to a 1-0 scoreline, courtesy of a bizarre deflected goal from Steve Evans just after the half hour mark, who's effort to block Lee Pryers' clearance on the edge of the box resulted in the ball deflecting past the bemused Sharrock and into the net. |
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| Evans
had earlier hit the crossbar, Christian Moore had a brace of shots saved
by Sharrock, and the Brewers had a strong penalty appeal dismissed after
an apparent handball by a home defender, in a frantic first half. Away from league matters, and FA Trophy fever has gripped Burton this week, with queues stretching right round the ground on Tuesday afternoon when tickets for the semi-final second leg against Yeovil Town went on sale at Eton Park. More than 2,500 tickets were sold in the first day, and few if any were expected to be left today (Thursday). You will be able to purchase tickets for next Saturday's away leg at Huish Park - the first batch go on sale in the club shop between 5.30-9.30pm tonight, and from 12 noon-10pm tomorrow (Friday) in the Football Tavern. Full details of ticket and away travel arrangements can be found on the official website. The Brewers meanwhile will hope to further cement their position at the top of the table before turning their attention to the Trophy - they entertain Colwyn Bay at Eton Park on Saturday, before travelling up to Lancashire for an Easter Bank Holiday Monday clash with Burscough (both matches 3pm). |
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| Seasiders slaughtered |
| A
bizarre afternoon's entertainment at Eton Park ended with the Brewers sweeping
to a 5-1 victory over cynical Whitby Town side, to stay on course for a 100-goal
haul in the UniBond League this season. Whitby, who had hacked, whinged and timewasted their way through the 90 minutes, were sent packing with three goals in time added on, and remain in danger of being sucked into the relegation play-off position - and few Brewers would shed any tears for them after watching this performance. A largely uneventful first half ended on a high when Jason Kavanagh got on the end of Steve Evans' cross to give Albion the lead in first half stoppage time, but the Seasiders levelled from the penalty spot ten minutes into the second half - assistant manger David Logan converting from the spot after Alex Gildea was tripped by Stride. |
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| The
introduction of the talismanic Nigel Clough, who started the game on the
bench, proved a turning point, as the Brewers player-manager delivered the
free-kick from which Albion restored their lead, five minutes after coming
on. Clough's ball into the box was spilled by Town 'keeper Phil Naisbett,
allowing Mark Blount to find the net for the second game running. Whitby, battling for their Premier Division survival, briefly threatened to find a second equalizer, but their cynical tactics finally got the result they deserved in an eventful final flourish to the match. After 'keeper Naisbett went off injured, defender Kevin Graham took over for what would be a nightmare ten minutes as stand in goalkeeper - his first action being to upend Dale Anderson in the box allowing Aaron Webster to convert from the penalty spot. Things immediately got worse for Whitby when Ian Williams, booked for dissent only moments earlier, kicked the ball away and received his second yellow card, and his marching orders. Graham's humiliation was compounded when the stand-in 'keeper allowed Aaron Webster to disposses him inside the box and walk the ball into the net, and a thumping victory for the Brewers was complete deep into seven minutes' time added on, when Steve Evans made it 5-1 after Graham could only parry Dale Anderson's low shot. The Brewers' title charabanc moves on to East Lancashire on Tuesday night, when Bamber Bridge, bottom of the league and already looking doomed for the drop, provide the opposition at Irongate (7.45pm). |
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| Brewers date with Sky |
| The
live Sky television cameras will come to Eton Park for the first time to
cover the Brewers' FA Trophy semi-final second leg against Yeovil, on Sunday
March 14th (kick-off 1pm). The Brewers were paired with the West Country side in Monday's draw, and ticket and other arrangements are already in full swing for a game which is likely to attract the biggest Eton Park crowd in over a decade. Albion fans have been allocated 2,200 of the 9,000 tickets for the first leg at Huish Park on Saturday 6th April, with the Glovers receiving an initial allocation of around 1,000 of a total of just over 4,700, for the second leg eight days later. |
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| Tickets
for the games will go on sale from the club shop and Football Tavern from
next Tuesday, 26th March, for full details see the
official
site... The match will be the second time the Brewers have been featured live on Sky Sports - they exited the competition to Hereford United at the quarter final stage last season in front of the cameras at Edgar Street. |
| top |
| Links |
| Burton Albion official website |
| Has all the details regarding tickets etc, with a dedicated Trophy semi-final info page... |
| Yeovil Town official website |
| Similar info from a Yeovil perspective, on the official Glovers website... |
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| Easy, Tiger |
| The
Brewers took another tentative step closer towards the first league title
in their history, grinding out a solid, if unspectacular 1-0 victory over
Worksop Town at Sandy Lane on Tuesday night. In front of a Tigers' league record crowd of 1,367 (at least that was the official total), Albion started the game in lively fashion, and a virtuoso performance looked on the cards when Mark Blount headed in Aaron Webster's corner on 10 minutes. Christian Moore should have made it 2-0 soon after but couldn't lift his shot over Tigers 'keeper Jamie Holmshaw after a brilliant sweeping move involving Clough and Talbot, but after that the first half settled into a pattern of few chances at either end. |
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| Worksop,
perhaps guilty of affording their visitors too much respect in the first
half, took the game more to the Brewers after the break, and were unlucky
not to level when Gavin Smith saw his header from Paul Eshelby's cross come
back off the crossbar. Ten minutes later Smith was again through on goal but was denied by the onrushing Matt Duke, and despite having the best of the possession , Worksop couldn't break down a resolute Albion defence. The win extends the Brewers' lead at the top of the UniBond Premier Division to a whopping sixteen points, and with their title rivals continuing to press the self-destruct button (Lancaster going down 3-2 at Accrington Stanley on Wednesday night) it would take a catastrophic and unforseen collapse over the course of the remaining eleven games for the Brewers not to inherit Stalybridge Celtic's title come the end of the season. |
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| Brewers blast into semi-finals |
| The
season just gets better and better. On an afternoon when Lancaster and Altrincham
both dropped points to further strengthen Albion's title credentials, the
Brewers blasted their way into the FA Trophy semi-finals for the first time
since 1987. Mark Wright's Chester City became the third Conference side this season to succumb to the rampant Brewers, to the delight of the home fans in a bumper 3,584 crowd at Eton Park, which included a large and vocal contingent from Cheshire. An early header over the bar from Steve Evans and a goalmouth clearance in the Brewers penalty box aside, the game took a while to warm up. |
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| The
temperature rose a few notches though when City 'keeper Wayne Brown escaped
a sending off after an apparent professional foul on Dale
Anderson. Anderson was round the 'keeper on the left hand corner of the box when felled, but the referee settled for a yellow card instead of the red the home fans were baying for, Brown just one of six players to enter the referee's notebook in what was a fierceley contested match. The game opened up somewhat in the second half, with Chester striker Mark Beesley coming closest to breaking the deadlock with a shot which came back off the post, with Matt Duke brilliantly saving the rebound. |
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Four
minutes later, it got even better, Christian Moore on the floor by the near
post keeping in Steve Evans' corner (with a suspicion of handball), his shot
was blocked by Brown, but Aaron Webster was on hand to gleefully fire home
the rebound from close range. A month or two ago, the thought of having to rearrange two league games (Lancaster at home and Vauxhall Motors away) at this advanced stage of the season would have been cause for concern, but with the Brewers in such devastating form and Altrincham and Lancaster continuing to stutter, the prospect of a league title and an appearance in the Trophy final, something which would have seemed like fantasy at the start of the season, is starting to look like a real prospect. |
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| Glass doubt for Trophy tie |
| Influential
midfielder Neil Glasser is the major injury doubt ahead of the Brewers' FA
Umbro Trophy Quarter Final clash with Chester City at Eton Park on
Saturday. The man who, in an interview in tonight's Burton Mail Nigel Clough describes as 'the best signing in my three and a half years at the club' is nursing a hamsting injury and a sore knee amongst other knocks picked up in Albion's hectic UniBond League programme over the past few weeks. Full-back Paul Talbot is another absentee - he's cup-tied having played in the comptetition for Gateshead in an earlier round, while striker Alan Bailey, suffering from back strain, is likely to make way for Dale Anderson. Chester meanwhile will be without central defender Mark Williams and midfielder Sean Carey, who are cup-tied. |
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| Saturday's
game sees Brewers boss Nigel Clough pitted against former Liverpool team-mate
Mark Wright, who since his arrival has revitalised the fortunes of the
relegation-threatened Conference side, guiding them to a 12-match unbeaten
in all competitions, culminating in Saturday's 4-0 drubbing of Stalybridge
Celtic at Bower Fold. Chester are bidding to reach the semi-finals for the second year running, after losing to eventual winners Canvey Island last season, but manager Wright is playing down the importance of Saturday's match: "I’m treating the tie as another game, and I’ve not changed my opinion about our priority," said Wright, "We’ve got into a good habit of winning, and I hope that continues. Staying in the Conference this season is my main aim, but I know the fans and our chairman are looking forward to tomorrow’s match. I’d enjoy the FA Trophy tie more if I knew our league position was safe, but I know that’s not the case." The FA Trophy was at Eton Park today and Nigel Clough has promised fans his side will do all they can to get a chance at lifting it for real: "We have played the Trophy down but now it's upon us we want to do well because we're only three games from the final," Clough told the Burton Mail. "The worst possible thing tomorrow will be to come off at quarter to five thinking we haven't done ourselves justice. We'll hopefully have 3,000 fans in the ground and we'll be trying our very hardest not to disappoint them." |
| top |
| Links |
| Burton Albion official website |
| See the 'Touchline' page for the latest matchday information, team news, weather and travel detail. |
| Chester City website |
| The leading unofficial Chester site with all the news, club info and more. |
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| Lucky thirteen? |
| The
Brewers inched another step closer towards the UniBond League c**********p
with a narrow 2-1 win over Emley at Eton Park on Tuesday evening. With a score to settle for their 3-2 capitulation in West Yorkshire in December, Nigel Clough named an unorthodox formation, with Dale Anderson and Christian Moore both rested on the bench, to make way for a forward line of Aaron Webster and Alan Bailey. A routine victory looked on the cards when the latter put the Brewers in front with just six minutes on the clock, Webster's pass splitting the Emley defence and Bailey recovering from his initial stumble to slot home from inside the box. |
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| Darren
Stride was denied a second goal for offside before the game degenerated into
a scrappy affair with few chances at either end. A rare error from Neil Glasser let in Emley to level the scores three minutes into the second half, Micky Norbury breaking through to let loose a shot saved well by Duke, but the Brewers 'keeper was helpless to deny Darren Day from the rebound. Luck seems to have been on the Brewers side recently, and this was evident again for what proved to be the winning goal, just short of the hour mark. Paul Talbot's searching cross-field ball set Steve Evans free down the right, and the wingers curling inswinger was put into his own net by Emley skipper Steve Nicholson. It wasn't a spectacular victory, but at this stage of the season three points is all that matters, and once again the Brewers title rivals continued to do them favours, with Lancaster and Altrincham both slipping up at Gainsborough and Bishop Auckland respectively, leaving the Brewers with a comfortable thirteen point cushion as they turn their attention to Saturday's FA Umbro Trophy Quarter Final clash with Chester City. |
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| Seaside splashdown |
| A
bizarre afternoon on the East Yorkshire coast ended in high drama as new
signing Paul Talbot snatched a late equalizer for the Brewers at
Whitby.
With kick-off
time approaching, the Turnbull Ground was being battered by blizzard-like
conditions, and once the snow had eased off a heavily waterlogged pitch (see
picture) left the game in severe doubt. |
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| Even
then, the home side were reduced to a squad of just 11, meaning that when
striker Lee Ure was carried off midway through the first half, they had to
play the remainder of the match a man short. This didn't stop the Yorkshire side from taking the lead, Danny Logan's free kick just short of the hour mark deflecting off the Burton wall and leaving Matt Duke stranded. The Brewers battled hard but looked to be heading for only their third defeat of the season, until an amazing seven minutes into injury time, Talbot volleyed home from the edge of the box, to salvage a point. The result completes Nigel Clough's target of seven points from their three successive away games, and it's a result which took on an even better appearance with the news that Altrincham had crashed to another surprise defeat at home to Frickley Athletic. Lancaster's match was postponed, meaning the Brewers extend their lead at the top to ten points. |
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| Stride's late winner keeps Albion on track |
| Skipper
Darren Stride notched his sixth brace of the season, to give the Brewers
another crucial three points, on a night when title rivals Altrincham again
dropped points, going down to a shock 2-0 defeat at Droylsden. In front of a ground record Watnall Road crowd of 1,602 - over seven times the average gate there this season, Phil Starbuck's side showed the kind of psyched-up performance which has revitalised the club's fortunes since the arrival of the former Brewer as manager, to stun Albion with a 12th minute goal. Gangly striker Gary Ricketts jinked down the right flank beating two defenders before unleashing a right foot shot into the roof of Matt Duke's net. Only a fine save from Duke seven minutes later prevented the home side from doubling their advantage, and apart from a dubious penalty claim by Dale Anderson, Albion showed little sign of finding the net themselves. |
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| A
scrappy game got little better in the second half, and although the Brewers
were showing a little more attacking endeavour, most of the travelling army
would have settled for the point which Darren Stride's equalizer on the hour
mark appeared to have given them. However in a season when dramatic winners have become a staple diet for Brewers fans, that man Stride snatched the winner two minutes from time, heading home a cross from new signing from Gateshead, left-sided defender Paul Talbot, unveiled earlier on Tuesday after the North East club's failure to honour his contract meant the Brewers could sign him on a free transfer, a snip given his £20,000 billing earlier in the season. Lancaster City's win over Bishop Auckland means the Brewers lead remains 'only' nine points, but Altrincham's capitulation to lowly Droylsden was an added bonus on what may prove to be another landmark night in what bears the signs of being a vintage season. |
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| Brewers withstand Barrow barrage |
| The
Brewers withstood ferocious home pressure in the dying stages to claim a
crucial 2-1 away win at Holker Street, Barrow, while dropped points for
Altrincham and Lancaster left the Brewers nine points clear at the top of
the UniBond League.
Christian Moore gave the Brewers
the lead on the half hour mark, heading in Anderson's cross, and provider
turned scorer for the second, Dale Anderson capitalizing on slack defending
from the home side to slot past 'keeper Bishop after being sent through by
Clough. |
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Steve Housham pulled one back
for Barrow, with a deflected shot on 67 minutes, sparking a furious late
onslaught by the home side, but the Brewers held firm to further strengthen
their title credentials.
Altrincham were held to a 1-1
home draw by Bisohp Auckland, while Lancaster City lost at Bradford PA, meaning
the Brewers regain their nine-point advantage at the top. |
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| News - March 2002 | << main >> |
