Burton Albion Football Club

Burton Albion assistant manager Kevin Summerfield knows what to expect when the Brewers face AFC Wimbledon at the Pirelli Stadium tomorrow.

Summerfield says the squad are in confident mood ahead of the Dons’ visit, something he believes is helped by the recovery from Tuesday night’s game at Portsmouth.

“They’ll come and make it tight. They’ve been pretty resilient in their last few games. They tend to play a 4-1-4-1 formation, which suggests they’re going to be cautious.

“Getting the points always helps. If you’d said before the Oxford game that we’d come back with four points from two hard trips then we’d have bitten your hand off. The performances have been good in those games, so the boys are upbeat and can’t wait to get back out on the pitch.

“The players are feeling quite fresh. We’ve looked after them this week and the Chairman has been really good to us, letting us stay down on Tuesday night, which we feel is the best way to recover. 

“Hopefully the lads will be as bright tomorrow as they were this morning, when they were really good,” said Summerfield.

With Lee Bell and Marcus Holness coming into the side for the draw at Portsmouth, Summerfield says they may retain their places in the team, allowing the likes of Matty Palmer and Ian Sharps to get back to fitness.

“There’s every chance that they’ll start. It gives time for Matty to have a bit of a breather. He’s 18 and has done terrifically well for us all season, and this may be the time to give him a rest.

“Ian Sharps is touch and go at the minute. Hopefully he’ll come through but if he doesn’t it won’t be a problem as Bob can slot in, as he did on Tuesday night,” Summerfield said.

With the final ten games on the horizon, Summerfield believes the characteristics of the squad are good for a promotion challenge.

“What we’ve had throughout the season is that we haven’t been particularly fancy in the way we play. We have a certain way and we’ve done a lot of work on that in the last couple of weeks, which gives us leeway to being a nice, tight, compact unit and gives us more opportunities to score goals. 

“We’ve proved throughout the season that when things aren’t going well, we can still dig a result out which will be vital.