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Plainmoor
Tuesday 15th February 2011
KO: 7:45pm

After our league victory at Underhill last Saturday, we return to Plainmoor for a piece of npower League 2 action, and we host a club that has shared the past few years of recent history with us, in Burton Albion. I barely even knew this club existed until a game back in November 2003. It was the FA Cup 1st Round, at Plainmoor, to some 'rubbish non-league side' (or so I thought). The game finished 2-1 to the Brewers, and it saw a spectacular own goal by Stevie Woods. Since that day, the clubs have met several times, from 2008 onwards. They were in the Blue Square Premier when we were, they got promoted out of it the year we did, and then they are in League Two with us now. The Brewers currently sit 13th in the table, but they were recently the first club ever to take 3 points from Chesterfields new ground (a small piece of history for you there). Here is a link to their fans forum, named 'Clough the Magic Dragon':

http://magicdragon.proboards.com/index.cgi

LAST 5 SEASONS.

2005/06 - Conference - 9th place - 60 points
2006/07 - Conference - 6th place - 75 points
2007/08 - Blue Square Premier - 5th place - 81 points - LOST IN PLAYOFFS
2008/09 - Blue Square Premier - 1st place - 88 points - PROMOTED AS CHAMPIONS
2009/10 - League 2 - 13th place - 62 points

Improvement is the word to describe Burtons past half-decade. Under Nigel Clough, they continued to improve on themselves, and eventually all that work culminated in success in 2008/09. I would have thought that the Club would probably have broken the points tally record for the Blue Square Premier, had Clough not left half way through the season, for Derby County. His replacement, Roy McFarland had a steady set of results, eventually delivering the trophy that was in the bag, but had the season gone on for a few games longer, I'd have thought that they'd have lost out. Having a 20 point lead eventually cut to 2 shows that their end of season form wasn't the best. Still, the job was done, and League 2 football was to be played at the Pirelli. Their first ever season in the Football League was a successful one, with no relegation worries at all, finishing in a comfortable 13th place.

HEAD TO HEAD.

Torquay wins - 3
Burton wins - 4 (1 in Cup)
Draws - 0

The clubs first ever meeting was that aforementioned Cup game, which the Brewers won. It's the only time the two clubs have met in a Cup competition. In the Leagues, the result has never been a draw, with each club winning 3 games each. In our first Conference season, Burton did the double over us, winning 3-1 at the Pirelli, and 2-1 at Plainmoor. However, 2008/09 was a different story, with us doing the double over them, winning 1-0 at the Pirelli thanks to a magnificent Danny Stevens goal, and 2-1 at Plainmoor on the final day of the season. Last year saw us win at Burton, and then they came from 2-0 down at Plainmoor to win 3-2.

FORM (LAST 6 GAMES).

DLWLLW

The Brewers have had a steady last 6 games, winning 2 and losing 3. They have only played 6 times since New Year, so they haven't really hit form in 2011 yet. A cup win over Middlesborough was followed by a cup exit, to Burnley, and Shrewsbury in the league. They did beat leaders Chesterfield again, on Friday night, so will look to build on that result on Tuesday night.

PROBABLE LINE UP.

This is the side that beat Chesterfield 1-0 on Friday night:

Adam Ledgzins

Paul Boertien
Aaron Webster
Nathan Stanton
Andy Corbett
Tony James

John Mcgrath
Russell Penn
Adam Bolder
Jacques Maghoma

Calvin Zola

Subs: Ellison, Poole, Moore, Winnall, Pearson, Phillips, Young

PLAYERS TO WATCH.

For me, I think there are four players in that starting 11 which could pose some problems for us on Saturday. Calvin Zola is well known at this level, after scoring 17 for Crewe last season. He is on loan at the Pirelli. Also, Jacques Maghoma is a decent midfielder, who has a creative streak in him, as is Russell Penn. We all know Penn from when he was with Kidderminster, and he has made the step up to league football easily. My final tip would be to watch Aaron Webster. Yeah, I know he's a defender, but he seems to score a fair few already, with an impressive 9 goals already. I think he is being used as a winger or a striker, so I'd expect him to be in an attacking area on Tuesday.


PREDICTION.

Its a tough one. We're on form. Burton picked up 3 points against Chesterfield.

We need to take advantage of this game in hand, to try and close the gap on the playoffs

Gulls 2-0 Brewers.

Another outstanding matchday thread from NickGull.

Do like the " Clough the magic dragon " bit, not heard that before. Oh, and it's Nigel not Brian.

2-1

Benyon and Zebroski.

Ever thought about approaching the club and maybe doing this is as a regular thing for the officail site?
seem's way to good to only be viewed on a forum.

NewtonGull wrote:Ever thought about approaching the club and maybe doing this is as a regular thing for the officail site?
seem's way to good to only be viewed on a forum.

Agree.

Looking forward to visiting Torquay again this Saturday.
Hopefully we will arrive in good time for a couple in 'Boots & Laces'
James Collins is indeed a player to watch, we're hoping to keep him until the end of the season.
Excellent write up Nickgull. credit due.

See you all on Saturday

Trojan:- Ahh true. Thanks for pointing that out

NewtonGull:- I can't say I have. They already have previews and stuff on there anyway.

Earwig:- Thanks. Hope you have a safe journey and enjoy your time down here

This James Collins?

http://www.avfc.co.uk/page/PlayerProfil ... 29,00.html

Matt.

Also, good job with the referee thing Nick, top work as always.

Excellent write up Nick, best one of the season.

Hmm, Not sure about this one, we might seem to get over confident and complacent. Burton on goodish form at the moment.

Torquay 1-2 Burton

For me sadly, but lets get the atmosphere going and take it from there. You never know Branston against his former club, 90th minute header?

Not that one, no, Matt.

Cheers YellowMurphy

as long as we don't concede I think we'll win in.

Excellent preview as usual Nick and thanks for the note on the officials. I agree with the others that this material is so good that it should also appear on the club's site.

RussianGull wrote:as long as we don't concede I think we'll win in.

I'm with you on this one, absolutely the least I can see us getting, provided we don't concede, is a draw.


As usual Bernard, we have ME to thank for the referee section. (Do you know how to vote for MOTM? Janet does.)

Matt.

Technically, we have myself to thank as I could have easily left it out!

Excellent work as ever Nick.

Not sure about this one, even though our record against them isn't too bad I've always associated Burton as being our bogey team, particularly after that first season in the conference and reviving it last season when we blew a 2-0 lead against them at the nadir of our poor form. Hopefully their training has been heavily disrupted with the weather and it'll show. It'll be important that we get the game on (what is the weather like btw?) as with the FA Cup we may end up with a fixture backlog. I'll go for a conservative 1-1 draw, Benners on the scoresheet for us.

with the ref-watch piece, I'm trying to remember if I had anything particularly negative to remember from said Cheltenham game last season, and I don't. I know there was one away game last season where I actually commented that I barely noticed the ref, could well have been Cheltenham. Although I may have just forgotten any wrong-doings in the elation of Muzzy's completely undeserved, triple-nutmeg last minute equaliser!

I will be bringing one of my 5 year old daughters to her very first torquay game this saturday let's make it a cracker of an atmosphere for her and all of the first timers.