ALBION faced a stern pre-season defensive test as Championship side Stoke City won the Bass Charity Vase with a 1-0 victory.
The visitors dominated for long periods and Albion will not come up against that sort of quality and fluency very often in SkyBet League One this season so this was a good test of their defensive discipline and resilience ahead of the new campaign.
Stoke bossed the first half but could not get a goal with man of the match Jamal Blackman making a number of stops but it was Jacob Brown who grabbed the winner in the second half from an incisive move.
Dino Maamria made three changes to the side that took on West Bromwich Albion in Saturday’s pre-season game. Jake Caprice, Ryan Sweeney and Kegs Chauke came into the side as Steve Seddon, Jasper Moon and Mark Helm dropped out as the opportunity to et minutes in the tank continued.
Stoke started very positively with some slick midfield passing and that almost carved Albion on ten minutes as Jacob Brown got in behind the Brewers backline but Tom Hamer had tracked across to block his low ball aimed towards Tyrese Campbell waiting to pounce in the middle.
The visitors continued to look very sharp and their trialist forced a smart save from Jamal Blackman on twelve minutes.
Albion were getting penned back by the Stoke attack and they came close again when Michael Rose got up well at the back post to thump a header back across goal and narrowly wide.
Ki-Jana Hoever was finding space to advance on the right and the former Liverpool youngster tested Blackman with a quickly taken snapshot on 28 minutes, Albion’s keeper getting down well to divert it around the post.
Stoke were keen to get the ball wide and ping in crosses to test the Brewers defence but Albion were able to get vital blocks in to keep them at bay. Ben Pearson tried a more direct route to goal with a long-range effort on 42 minutes but Blackman was able to divert it over his bar with relative comfort.
Half time: Burton Albion 0-0 Stoke City
Both sides made two changes for the second half, Stoke introducing Jordan Thompson and new signing Andre Vidigal whilst Albion replaced John Brayford and Chauke with Moon and Josh Gordon.
The visitors took nine second half minutes to break the deadlock. Some patient approach play eventually got Josh Tymon in space on the left and he was able to deliver a cross that, this time, could not be cut out by a Burton defender and BROWN was on the spot in the middle to finally beat Blackman.
The changes continued on 58 minutes with Seddon taking over from Caprice in the left wing-back role and with twenty minutes to go Josh Walker made an appearance in place of Mason Bennett.
Blackman showed good positioning and awareness again when Vidigal found an opportunity to shoot on the edge of the box, the Albion stopper getting right behind it to deny the Portuguese youngster.
Rekeem Harper picked up a yellow card for tussling with and pulling back Josh Laurent as he looked to start another Stoke attack. Hamer also picked up a late yellow card as Stoke managed the rest of the game to lift the history trophy.
ALBION: Blackman; Brayford (Moon, 45), Hughes, Sweeney; Hamer, Harper, Powell, Caprice (Seddon, 58); Chauke (Gordon, 46), Bennett (Walker, 70), Stockton.
Substitutes: Crocombe, Kamwa, Lakin, Carayol, Gilligan. Delap.
GOALS: STOKE – Brown (54)
Referee: James Oldham
Attendance: 2,295