DINO Maamria is looking forward to a big away following as the Brewers travel across Staffordshire to face Port Vale on Saturday.
It’s almost seven years to the day since Albion last visited Port Vale in the league, when the travelling crowd roared their side to an emphatic 4-0 victory.
Maamria hopes for a similar atmosphere this weekend and was full of praise for the fans who stayed with his team despite the midweek defeat inflicted by play-off chasing Peterborough.
“Despite some heavy losses, our fans have always been fully behind us,” said Maamria. “Even at 4-2 on Tuesday, the fans made it feel like we were still in the game. They’ve been great all season and I look forward to hearing a vocal away crowd at Port Vale on Saturday.”
Vale have one of the bigger pitches in League One and Maamria is well prepared to use this to his advantage.
“You’ve got to be up to the challenge when you play Port Vale. You’ve got to do the basics well; you’ve got to scrap and compete. You’ve got to cover lots of distance because it’s a very big pitch. You’ve got to do all those things and you’ve got to play football as well.
“When you get the ball you have to make sure you work it nicely and go forward with it, because it’s important that when you play on these big pitches that you don’t just defend.
“That will stick in my mind whilst picking the team, because we need players that will run and cover a lot of distance, but also players who can carry the ball and dominate possession.”
One player who would’ve met this criteria is Deji Oshilaja, but the suspended midfielder will miss the second game of his three match ban.
“Deji’s absence was evident on Tuesday night,” said Maamria. “We’ve got to make sure that we don’t leave that void in the middle.
“We introduced an extra midfielder in Ciaran Gilligan on Tuesday, we might do the same on Saturday, but we don’t know for sure yet. It’s definitely something we need to address because we can’t leave that void in the middle of the park again.”
One solution to that void could be the return of veteran midfielder Chris McCann, who Dino expects to be back in contention after injury.
The only doubt for Saturday’s trip across the county is Tom Hamer, who has been suffering from a tight hamstring after playing virtually every minute since signing for the Brewers back in January 2021.