Burton Albion Football Club

Burton Albion manager Gary Rowett is looking forward to getting back to the Pirelli Stadium as they welcome Accrington Stanley.

It’s the Brewers’ first home game in four, and Rowett has emphasised the importance of winning today.

“It’s nice to be back at the Pirelli, we’re very keen to start winning more games here. We had a little spell at the start of the season then hit a patch of five or six where we won or got close to winning. 

“We’ve come away from that over the last two or three games, so we need to pick that form up and give the home crowd something to shout about in terms of goals and chances,” said Rowett

Albion’s away form hasn’t been matched by their record at the Pirelli, and Rowett is keen for that to change this afternoon.

“It’s always going to define our season. What we found last year is that our away games defined our season. We picked up towards the end and started to win our home games, as well as picking points up on the road. 

“What we now need to do is win our home games for those points to be a bonus. We need to win some more games at home, and that starts tomorrow – it’s as simple as that,” Rowett said.

Rowett could be forgiven for pointing to the team’s time on the road over the last ten days, but the Brewers boss expects no sympathy.

“It hasn’t had a massively detrimental effect on performances. When you’re looking for that extra little bit, then the travelling comes into play. If someone asked you to travel to Torquay to play a football match then most people would ask what the problem was, so I don’t expect any sympathy.

“From a performance point of view and for the players to be 100% at it, then rest is obviously important. In an ideal world we wouldn’t have to travel for nine hours within 24 hours. 

“We tried to do the best we can in terms of recovery and we had chances to win the Rochdale and Torquay games that we haven’t taken.

“It’s always the same when you get to this point in the season. We have to take special notice in what we do and look at our training. We haven’t done anything overly special, it’s just less training, more rest, and try to limit the travelling and its effects,” Rowett added.

Looking ahead to this weekend, Rowett is determined not to underestimate a Stanley side that have shown good form recently.

“I think Accrington have been going quite well of late, so we certainly can’t underestimate them. We need to do what we do well, which is play with a bit of tempo and try to push teams back and make them defend. 

“I don’t think we’ve done that enough at home but when we have done it, we’ve got our rewards.”