Town Go into Easter Fixtures at Burton Aiming to Confirm Championship Status Friday, 14th Apr 2017 10:49 Town go into the first of their Easter fixtures, at Burton Albion on Friday evening, with manager Mick McCarthy aiming to pick up the handful of points which would confirm the Blues’ Championship status for a 16th season. McCarthy’s side are currently 17th on 49 points, nine above Tony Mowbray’s Blackburn Rovers in 22nd with five matches to play. If Town win at Burton and Rovers, second-bottom and level on points with third-bottom Wigan following the Latics' 3-2 Thursday victory against Barnsley, lose at Nottingham Forest this afternoon the Blues would be 12 points off the bottom three with a superior goal difference with only four matches remaining. The Blues boss, who has set no points target which he feels would see his team to safety, admits Town still need a couple more to be absolutely sure of staying up but equally believes it would take a lot for them to go down from their current position. “Of course we still need points,” he said. “I know it’s a tough ask for the teams below us and some of them will be playing at three o’clock before us. “But we want to do it ourselves, not rely on anybody else. We’ve got an opportunity this weekend.” McCarthy also believes Burton will survive their first ever season in the Championship and has a lot of time for Brewers manager Nigel Clough. “I think he’s done a remarkable job,” he said. “And considering he was touted for Nottingham Forest as well earlier on. “He’s continued doing it and a bit like some other clubs, he’s had to bring in loan players and he made his team, patched them up sometimes, changed it around, played different shapes, different systems and got results. And I think he will stay up.”
Reflecting on last week’s loss at Fulham, the Blues boss says there were some positives to be taken from the game, despite the defeat. “I’m not pleased that we got beaten 3-1, let’s be clear about that,” he said. “But we did have a good few chances and certainly after half-time we could have got back into it. But they’re a good side and overall they deserved to win.” McCarthy may look to start in the 4-4-2 system used in the second half at Craven Cottage which saw his side create those chances, but not hit the net until Christophe Berra’s late header. If McCarthy does start in that system Bartosz Bialkowski would continue in goal with Jordan Spence at right-back, Myles Kenlock at left-back and Berra and skipper Luke Chambers the centre-halves. In midfield, Cole Skuse, back after missing the previous two games due to the concussion he suffered in the 1-1 draw with Birmingham, is likely to return in place of Toumani Diagouraga in his usual holding midfield role with Emyr Huws taking up the other central role. Grant Ward is likely to be on the right and Tom Lawrence on the left with David McGoldrick and Freddie Sears up front. Teddy Bishop could be back among the subs after recovering from his recent groin problem and having played a second game for the U23s on Monday. Burton have used a variety of systems of late, 4-5-1 during last week’s 1-1 home draw with Aston Villa and a 3-5-2 formation in their previous two matches, the 1-0 loss at Newcastle United and 1-0 win at Huddersfield, having lined-up 4-4-2 at times earlier in the season. The Brewers have a virtually full squad and expect to have Lasse Vigen Christensen available again after missing the Villa match due to tight glutes. Boss Clough is confident that Town are safe and is a big fan of his Blues counterpart. "Mick McCarthy is a great manager,” he said. “They're one of those teams that don't spend much money but always finish well. They've been in the play-offs previously and you know they won't go down.” Clough believes the Brewers need another five points to secure their Championship status for a second season. “It is always traditionally 50 isn't it?” he told the Burton Mail. “Everyone says get to 50. There has been one freak year [2012/13] when Peterborough went down on 54, but I don't think it will be that many this year. “I think the 50-point mark should do it — we hope so, as I cannot see us getting too many more than that, but we hope it is." In the first ever competitive fixture between the sides at Portman Road in October, skipper Luke Chambers and Freddie Sears were on target as Town ended their five-game goalless and winless run with a 2-0 victory over Burton. Chambers headed in a Sears cross in the 15th minute and Sears ended his own 38-game goal drought two minutes from the end to seal their first October victory under Mick McCarthy’s management. Although the teams have never previously met in a competitive fixture at the Pirelli Stadium, they did face one another in a pre-season friendly at Burton’s then-new ground in July 2007. Town ran out 3-0 victors over the then-non-league side with Matt Richards and Alan Lee (2, 1 pen) on the scoresheet. No member of the Town squad has played for Burton, but striker Luke Varney joined the Brewers in January with his short-term Blues contract coming to an end. The 34-year-old has made four starts and seven sub appearances without scoring for his new club, having netted three times for Town earlier in the season. Former Town loan keeper Stephen Bywater joined the Brewers from Doncaster in January 2016. The 35-year-old, who made 17 appearances for the Blues in a half-season spell in 2008, has so far made only one EFL Cup start and one Championship sub appearance for the Brewers. Winger Lloyd Dyer, 34, moved to the Pirelli Stadium last summer after a spell with Burnley at the end of last season having turned down a contract with Town in February 2016 following a successful trial. Winger Michael Kightly, who played for Mick McCarthy at Wolves, was interesting the Blues in the summer transfer window, while on-loan Fulham striker Cauley Woodrow was understood to be a January transfer window Town target. Burton left-back Ryan Delaney spent time with the Blues during their summer training camp at Carton House in Ireland before subsequently joining the Brewers from Wexford Youth at the end of July. The 20-year-old, whose agent is ex-Blue Stephen Hunt, is yet to make his debut for the Staffordshire club and joined Cork City on loan in January. Friday evening’s referee is Oliver Langford from the West Midlands, who has shown 123 yellow cards and five red in 40 games so far this season. Langford’s most recent Town match was the 1-1 East Anglian derby draw at Carrow Road in February in which he booked only Jordan Spence and Freddie Sears. Prior to that he was in charge of the 2-0 home defeat to Fulham on Boxing Day in which he booked Tom Lawrence, David McGoldrick and one Cottager. Coincidentally, he also took control of the 2-0 home victory over Burton Albion last October in which he booked Cole Skuse and two Brewers. Before that he refereed the 0-0 home draw with Charlton in April last year, in which he yellow-carded Jonas Knudsen and two Addicks, and the 2-1 home defeat to Leicester in November 2013, in which he booked only Luke Chambers. The only other Town game he has officiated in was the 2-0 defeat at Leeds in April of the same year when David Norris, by then with the Whites, was the only player cautioned. Squad from: Bialkowski, Gerken, Chambers (c), Kenlock, Emmanuel, Spence, Berra, T Smith, Digby, Huws, Diagouraga, Douglas, Bru, Williams, Bishop, Ward, Rowe, McGoldrick, Lawrence, Sears, Pitman, Samuel, Moore.
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