Preview: Burton Albion vs Exeter City
City’s season was thrown into chaos late last week with the news that Jevani Brown is facing assault charges, and Gary Caldwell will now be without his talisman for at least another couple of weeks while Brown awaits trial. Another thing Caldwell will need to address urgently is City stumbling out of the blocks in games, with Charlton going 2-0 up in the blink of an eye at the start of last week’s 2-1 
defeat. With Brown out of the picture Caldwell is likely to stick to an attacking trio of Nombe, Stansfield and White, while Demetri Mitchell scored off the bench after coming on early on for Jack Sparkes, and it’s likely Mitchell will step in from the start at Burton. Will Aimson made his City bow in place of Cheick Diabate and will hope to keep his place. Elsewhere Caldwell has more options at his disposal with the likes of McDonald competing for a start.
Having been considered one of the clubs likely to be battling the drop, an awful start to the season saw Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink lose his job to be replaced by Dino Maamria. Recent results have shown improvement, with successive victories over Oxford and Fleetwood seeing the Brewers come into Saturday’s match full of confidence, having conceded nine in their previous two league games and bow out of the FA Cup to League Two side Grimsby. Their top scorer Victor Adeboyejo left for Bolton during the window, replaced by Josh Walker, who had been in fine form in the National League for Dagenham and Redbridge. 38 players have so far been used in league games, perhaps a sign of some desperation to find a winning formula.
The reverse of this fixture should have been a home banker – City had made a positive start and Burton had a single point in mid-September – but goals from Oshilaja and Kellior-Dunn allied to a fine rearguard saw Burton emerge 2-0 winners. City have yet to win at the Pirelli Stadium, their only away win in this fixture being a stunning 4-3 victory at Burton’s former Eton Park ground. City’s last visit to Burton was in August 2014, when Burton recorded a 1-0 win through Stuart Beavon on their way to promotion. Burton have the league head to head lead with nine wins to City’s five, three matches finishing level.
The match officials for this game will be:-
Referee: Carl Brook
Assistant Referees: Marc Wilson and Darren Wilding
Fourth Official : Jamie O’Connor
Carl Brook last refereed an Exeter game in August, the 0-0 draw away to Gillingham in the EFL Cup.