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| First blood to Lambs |
| Albion
were left with a Christmas hangover after crashing to a 1-0 defeat at the
hands of their struggling neighbours Tamworth, in front of a bumper 3,000+
crowd at Eton Park on Boxing Day. The Brewers had the better of the first half and could have made a dream start but player-boss Nigel Clough's long-range effort was saved by Lambs 'keeper RIchard Brush. At the other end Norman Sylla found himself one-on-one with Matt Duke, but dragged his shot wide, and it was Albion who finished the half the stronger, with a ferocious spell of pressure just before the interval. |
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| Craig
Dudley's wind-assisted effort hit the woodwork direct from one of a flurry
of corners during this spell, Rob Warner had to clear off the line from Lee
Colkin's shot, and Brush saved from Darren Stride, but Albion just couldn't
find a way through, and were punished five minutes after the restart when
Sylla this time made no mistake after being set up by Richard Follett, rounding
Albion 'keeper Duke and sliding the ball home. The Brewers needed a quick response but looked out of sorts and even with the introduction of Robbie Talbot midway through the second half they lacked the creativity in midfield to create the chances to bother a Tamworth side understandably happy to settle on their one-goal lead. Dale Anderson came closest with a late effort but in truth the Brewers never looked like finding the net, and Tamworth claimed their first league victory over the Brewers since January 1982, a result Albion will be hoping to avenge when they travel to the Lamb for the return fixture on New Year's Day (12 noon). |
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| Brewers banish cup hangover |
| Albion
put their FA Cup exit behind them in the best possible way, with a thoroughly
convincing 3-0 defeat of Gravesend & Northfleet at Eton Park, to maintain
their steady progress up the table. The Brewers came out of the blocks in confident fashion against the visitors from Kent, and given the amount of chances they created, it was amazing that the scores were still level at half time, Robbie Talbot a constant thorn in the 'Fleet side. That changed within 30 seconds of the restart, Lee Colkin arriving in the box at just the right time to head in Craig Dudley's searching cross from the right. |
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| From
then on there was only one outcome: Andy Corbett sprung the Gravesend offside
trap before unselfishly squaring to Talbot to sidefoot home on the hour mark,
but the best goal of the game came ten minutes later, skipper Darren Stride
striking home an unstopable 25-yard drive on the half volley past visiting
'keeper Paul Wilkerson. The result keeps Albion in range of the play-off places ahead of a busy programme over the festive period, beginning with the trip to Gay Meadow to take on Shrewsbury Town on Saturday (3pm). That's followed by back-to-back derby matches against Tamworth, at Eton Park on Boxing Day and the Lamb on New Year's Day (both 12 noon), and a home match against Morecambe on Saturday 3rd January (3pm). |
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| 'Pool end Brewers cup dream |
| It's
nearly 20 years since the name Burton Albion was in the draw for the third
round of the FA Cup, and Albion fans will have to wait until next year at
least to see that happen, as the Brewers' cup run came to an end in front
of the BBC television cameras at Eton Park on Sunday. After all the pre-match hype, the romantic notion of Clough Jnr pulling off a shock against the team his father managed disappeared amidst the more down to earth matter of a sprung offside trap, and it's Hartlepool who will attempt a giantkilling feat of their own when they take on neighbours Sunderland in January. The game itself was for the most part a tight, tense affair, and with Albion packing the midfield and leaving Dale Anderson to plough a lone furrow up front, clear goalscoring opportunities at either end were at a premium. |
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| The
talking point of the first half for the television pundits in their specially
assembled studio alongside the main stand, including former Brewers boss
Neil Warnock, was a penalty shout by Hartlepool, after Eifion Williams went
down under the challenge of Steve Chettle. It looked a close call but the
referee opted to book Williams for diving rather than award the spot-kick,
to the consternation of the visitors. If it was a boxing match, Hartlepool would have taken the first half on points, but Albion almost delivered a killer blow just before the interval. Jon Howard sent the lively Anderson racing through, and when he skipped over the challenge of the 'Pool defender the majority of the 3,000+ crowd strained for a goal, but Anderson's touch just carried the ball too far wide of visiting 'keeper Jim Provett, and the narrow angle forced him instead to give the ball to Colkin, who's cross from the left flashed across the goal and harmlessly behind. |
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With
the crowd fired up Albion probably wished they could have carried on playing
through the break, but they managed anyhow to carry this momentum over into
the second half, and dominated the first 15 minutes after the restart. The elusive goal looked agonisingly close when Glen Kirkwood timed his run into the box on the hour mark to head Colkin's cross goalward, but the ball cannoned off the 'Pool defender on the line to safety. That was the high water mark of the game for Albion, who were issued a warning shot of the visitors' attacking menace when Matt Duke had to race out of his goal to deny the onrushing Mark Tinkler. It was a warning that wasn't heeded, however, and Albion found themselves behind in bizarre fashion 20 minutes from the end. Out of nothing, Tinkler beat the offisde trap from a ball out of midfield, and having raced through and drawn Duke wide, slipped the ball square to Joel Porter for the simplest of tap-ins. It was a soft goal to give away, and one from which Albion never recovered, only another frantic block by Duke preventing Paul Robinson from adding to the visitors' lead. Robbie Talbot was brought on to try and bring some more attacking bite in the closing stages, but the Second Division side held firm to book themselves a money-spinning trip to the Stadium of Light in the next round. |
| Albion
meanwhile will have to be content with a cup run which, while taking in only
three matches, has brought significant cash rewards, and unmeasurable publicity
for the club not just from the live television coverage but the rest of the
media coverage given to the club in the run up to, and aftermath of the
game. Hopefully days like these will continue to come our way in the future, particularly if Nigel Clough ignores his father's claims, in several interviews given in the run up to the game, that his son is 'too comfortable' at Eton Park, and should move on to bigger and better things. For his part Clough Jnr shows every sign of wanting to continue the job he's begun, beginning with the slightly less high profile matter of Saturday's Conference match against Gravesend & Northfleet (3pm). |
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| Vics victory lifts Albion into Top 10 |
| Albion
hoisted themselves back into the top half of the table, and their highest
league position since September, with a 2-1 win at struggling Northwich Victoria
last night. Northwich, entrenched in the bottom three, looked every inch a relegation side in the first half as Albion dominated the play, midfielder Sam McMahon coming closest to finding the net on his Brewers debut with a long-range effort, before the deadlock was broken 10 minutes before half time. A lightning attack from the Brewers left Northwich at sixes and sevens, Andy Corbett receiving the ball out of defence before turning and setting free Robbie Talbot, who turned inside his defender before keeping his compsure well to drill home a low shot. |
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| Northwich
were far from beaten however, and came out fighting after the interval, Mark
Devlin forcing a good save out of Matt Duke, who soon after was almost left
blushing for the third match running, but Devlin failed to capitalise on
the Brewers' keeper's sliced clearance. Northwich got a deserved equaliser on 56 minutes, Colin Potts finding the net with a deflected shot from a corner, and the home fans at sparsely populated Wincham Park began to urge their side on for only their third victory of the season. Fate was not on their side however. Vics would have made it 2-1 but for Lee Colkin's clearance off the line, before the Brewers immediately surged up the other end of the field to score. Colkin himself was the spur behind another swift counter-attacking move, racing into the Northwich half before feeding substitute Dale Anderson, who held the ball off just long enough to allow Barry Williams to arrive to fire home from the edge of the box. The home side's spirited defence was broken, and only a fine save by Vics 'keeper Andrew Ralph prevented Williams adding his second goal - a 2-1 victory enough to lift Albion up to ninth place in the table. |
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| Pride Park Brewers? |
| The
Brewers could play some of their home matches at Derby County's Pride Park
Stadium while their new ground is being completed, according to tonight's
Burton Mail. Albion have received council planning permission for their new 6,000 capacity stadium on land currently occupied by Pirelli Sports and Social club, near to their current Eton Park home, but work has not yet commenced on the project, which will probably not be completed in time for the start of the 2004-2005 season as originally hoped. |
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| Brewers
chairman Ben Robinson told the club's Annual General Meeting last night:
"The idea of the new ground being ready for the start of next season is
looking a little bit ambitious. It is more likely that it will take until
the Autumn to finish the work at the earliest." Mindful of the controversy currently surrounding another Conference side over their groundshare arrangements, Robinson stated: "We are very well aware of the need not to find ourselves in the sort of predicament Margate are in at the moment." "We have spoken to the Conference and they have given us permission to start matches at Eton Park and then move when the new ground is finished," he added, "But they are not opposed either to the idea of us sharing a ground at the start of next season. The only alternative would be to play at Pride Park, which would be a novelty, dependent on whether the powers that be at Derby were agreeable." At last night's AGM, Robinson confirmed that the new stadium, the construction work for which is expected to begin in January, would be called 'The Pirelli Stadium'. |
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Meanwhile
Albion travel to Northwich Victoria tonight (7.45pm) hoping to recapture
winning form after their 10-game unbeaten run came to an end at Woking on
Saturday. Albion looked to have done enough to earn a draw in quagmire conditions at Kingfield, but Cards substitute Davis Haule snatched a winner in injury time after Matt Duke's attempted clearance riccocheted off a crowd of players leaving Haule with a free shot at goal. Duke, who's blunder cost Albion a goal against Leigh RMI last week, will be hoping his luck takes a turn for the better as Albion travel to Wincham Park tonight hoping for a morale-boosting victory ahead of Sunday's televised FA Cup Second Round tie against Hartlepool United. |
| The
Woking result was the only blip in an otherwise excellent November for the
Brewers, which has seen manager Nigel Clough jointly awarded the Manager
of the Month award for that month, along with Stevenage Borough boss Graham
Westley. The extremely tight nature of the Conference mid-table zone at the moment means that a victory tonight would see Albion, currently 13th, go level with Accrington and Morecambe on 31 points, climbing to eighth or ninth in the table. Nigel Clough, with one eye on Sunday's match, looks set to rest defenders Steve Chettle and Darren Wassall, and possibly striker Dale Anderson, but he will have defender Adam Willis available for selection, having persuaded Kidderminster Harriers boss Jan Molby to extend the player's loan spell with Albion for an extra month. In other news, the Brewers have been handed a home draw in the Third Round of the FA Trophy, with fellow Conference side Accrington Stanley visiting Eton Park on Saturday 10th January. |
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| News - December 2003 | << main >> |
