BURTON Albion must take the same mentality from recent away games into tomorrow’s clash at Shrewsbury Town in order to close the gap on the top six, says captain Jake Buxton.
The Brewers head to Montgomery Waters Meadow this weekend (3pm kick-off) on the back of a four-game unbeaten league run and having won two and drawn three of our away league games in 2019.
With League One particularly congested and competitive this season, Buxton knows Albion are in for a tough game away at Shrewsbury, who themselves are looking to climb out of the bottom four.
“I think the cluster down there of teams are very tight,” said Buxton. “Everybody is scrapping for points.
“We saw Wimbledon beat Walsall (in midweek) and drag them into it, Accrington are into it, and Shrewsbury will be after the points more than anybody.
“It’ll be our toughest game in recent weeks but we’ll travel down there with the same mentality as in the last couple of away games, try to pick up the points and get us closer to the top six if we can.”
The Brewers have already played the Shrews twice this term, picking up 2-1 wins in the Carabao Cup first round and then in League One action at the Pirelli Stadium in December.
And in this weekend’s game, Buxton is braced for an even tougher test than last weekend’s 2-0 win away at AFC Wimbledon.
“Shrewsbury will be tougher than Wimbledon,” said the club captain.
“Wimbledon had an off-day and haven’t been as poor as that in their recent games.
“It was a tight affair down there (at Shrewsbury) in the cup and it’ll be tough for us.
“If we can put a little bit of pressure on that top six and stay in the top 10 after the weekend, that’s the opportunity we’ve got to take.
“At the moment we’re having a few good team performances and that’s showing in the results. Even if we’ve not won the game we’ve needed to at home to push us up the table, we’ve made sure we didn’t get beat.
“Against Oxford and Bradford we weren’t at our best but we didn’t get beat, and that’s crucial to us.
“If we go to Shrewsbury and perform to our standards, we know the points will be there. If we don’t, we have to make sure we don’t get beat.”