PREVIEW | Rovers vs Burton Albion

13 April 2021

Rovers are back in action on Tuesday night when they take on Burton Albion at the Keepmoat Stadium.

Andy Butler’s side were beaten 4-1 in their last league outing by Wigan Athletic.

Burton’s recent form

The Brewers have lost two of their past six league games stretching back to a 1-1 draw at Blackpool on March 16. They then suffered back-to-back home defeats against MK Dons and Shrewsbury Town respectively, before a goalless draw on the road at Accrington Stanley.

They got back to winning ways with a 2-1 win against Swindon Town, before beating Portsmouth by the same score-line at Fratton Park last time out.

The man in charge

Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink returned for his second spell as Burton Albion manager on New Year’s Day, replacing Jake Buxton. In his first spell in charge, Hasselbaink guided the club to promotion from Sky Bet League Two, before departing for Sky Bet Championship side Queens Park Rangers in December 2015. He also had a spell with Northampton Town before returning to the Pirelli.

Since taking over, Hasselbaink has been in charge of 17 games, winning 11, drawing two and losing four, giving him an overall win percentage of 64.7%

Club News

Burton Albion programme available to download

13 April 2021

Ones to watch

Joe Powell

A product of the West Ham United Academy, Powell didn’t make a first-team appearance for the Hammers and spent time on loan at Northampton Town in the second-half of the 2018/19 campaign.

He joined Burton on a permanent deal in January 2020, and scored three goals in 10 games prior to the season being curtailed. Powell has been a key part of the side in his first full season at the club, adding a further seven goals to his tally.

Kane Hemmings

After coming through the youth system in Scotland with Rangers, Hemmings signed for Barnsley in 2014 but spent just a year at Oakwell before he returned north of the border to join Dundee.

He has since played for Mansfield and Notts County in the EFL, and joined Burton last summer as a free agent. The 30-year-old has hit the ground running his new club and is currently their top-scorer this season, with 13 goals in 35 appearances.

Lucas Akins

The powerful forward has been a key part of the Burton side since signing from Stevenage in the summer of 2014. After spells in Scotland with Hamilton and Partick Thistle, Akins returned to English football with Tranmere where he produced several eye-catching performances and that persuaded Stevenage to pay a substantial fee for him.

He scored 10 goals in 49 appearances at the Lamex Stadium before then Brewers boss Gary Rowett snapped him up, and he would go on to be a great signing as he helped the club secure consecutive promotions from Sky Bet League Two to the Championship. He has scored nine goals so far this season and helped Burton to pull themselves away from danger.

Last time out

Rovers ran out 3-1 winners when the two sides last met at the Pirelli Stadium back in December. Fejiri Okenabirhie gave Rovers an early lead, before Lucas Akins levelled the scores from the penalty stop. Ben Whiteman then scored from 12-yards himself, before a fine individual effort from Taylor Richards secured all three points.

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More ahead of this match

Butler impressed by Burton

Wright: We have to do ourselves justice

Meet the officials

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Match Reports

REPORT | Rovers 0 Burton Albion 3

13 April 2021

Burton Albion come away from the Keepmoat Stadium with three points, despite an improved first half performance from Rovers.

Four changes were made to the side from the weekend with James Coppinger coming back into the team to make his 600^th start at the club. Returning to the starting XI alongside side him was John Bostock, AJ Greaves and Fejiri Okenabirhie.

Those were not the only changes Butler had made to his team, as he ditched the 4-2-3-1 system with the side lining up as a 4-4-2.

The change in tact worked a treat in the first half with Rovers having seen most of the possession for the opening period, and off the ball they worked hard to win possession back.

Burton had their first shot from a direct free kick taken by Joe Powell, which was stopped by an alert Ellery Balcombe on the 14^th minute.

The first big opportunity for Rovers came through Matt Smith as the Welsh international benefited from a deflection off Ryan Edwards and hit the ball on the volley, only for it to bobble out for a corner. That resulting corner was worked well between Coppinger and Josh Sims, with the move finishing with a curled effort off target from the Southampton loanee.

On the 25^th minute Okenabirhie forced a great save out of Ben Garratt after he beat the off-side trap before he unleashed an effort from a tight angle.

Rovers were having an unlucky time in front of goal as moments later Tom Anderson’s close-range tap-in was denied by Garratt again after a great ball was played in by Sims.

Butler’s side did have the ball in the back of the net through Okenabirhie, but the referee ruled it for a supposed handball from Branden Horton in the build-up.

The first half finished goalless with Rovers boasting the better chances and showing much improvement from the 4-1 defeat to Wigan Athletic a few days ago.

Burton made a change during the break in an attempt to combat Rovers’ presence in the game with Sean Clare replaced by Terry Taylor.

On the hour mark Rovers had two chances with Sims being denied from distance before Coppinger whipped a sweet ball into the box which was headed goal wards by Omar Bogle but tipped over by Garratt.

Within a 20-minute window, Burton stormed into a 3-0 lead which started with Lucas Askins powerfully blasting the ball past Balcombe. They got their second through Tom Hamer who aimed accurately into the bottom left corner. The third put the game to bed with just over 10 minutes to go when Blackburn Rovers loanee Hayden Carter scored from close range.

The result was a bitter blow for Rovers who put on an improved display from the weekend.