Burton Albion v Port Vale preview – new-look Valiants travel to near neighbours

Darren Moore’s much changed Port Vale side travel to Burton Albion for their latest friendly game of the summer. Here’s our preview…

The Valiants are already well into a busy schedule of friendly games and will be looking for a better performance than the 1-0 loss to Bath City the previous weekend. Vale will have returned from a training camp in Wales and will hopefully be refreshed for this game.

Like Vale, home side Burton have also been much involved in the summer transfer market, outdoing even Darren Moore with the number of new recruits (more of that later) and will be looking forward to their first summer game against a fellow Football League side.

The opposition – Burton Albion

Man in charge

Former AFC Wimbledon manager Mark Robinson was appointed as head coach following the departure of Martin Paterson. Robinson managed the Dons for just over a year as well as spending time as head coach of the Chelsea development squad.

Summer signings

There have been a plethora of new arrivals including some intriguing additions. Forward Jack Cooper-Love has arrived after a spell in Swedish football while left-back Ivan Inzoudine comes in from a spell in French football and winger winger Tomas Kalinauskas from Dutch football. Better-known faces include veteran forward Billy Bodin, defender Jack Armer and prolific Crawley forward Danilo Orsi. And there’s more… Salford’s Elliot Watt, Notts County’s Geraldo Bajrami, Shrewsbury’s Jason Sraha, a former Valiant in Ben Whitfield (pictured), Nottingham Forest striker Julian Larsson, Chelsea defender Charlie Webster, Queen’s Park defender Alex Bannon, Swindon defender  Udoka Godwin-Malife and Chelsea loanee Dylan Williams.

In total there have been eighteen summer arrivals. Wow!

Connections

Current connection

The aforementioned Ben Whitfield initially signed on loan for Vale from AFC Bournemouth in 2017. After an impressive spell, the move was made permanent in August 2018. He made a total of 72 appearances, scoring eight times before moving on to Torquay United in 2019.

Vintage connection

Goalkeeper Stuart Tomlinson had spells with both clubs. Signed from Barrow, the keeper spent two years with the Valiants making 74 appearances. He departed to join Burton where he made 28 appearances. He totalled 167 games during his professional career.

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History

Last time we met

Last season at the Pirelli stadium we witnessed a rare win for the Valiants and a fixture that will be long remembered for a memorable goal from Ryan Loft. It finished 1-0 to Vale after 90 minutes.

First time we met

The first competitive fixture was back in 2010 when it finished 3-1 to the Valiants thanks to goals from Marc Richards (2) and another from Sean Rigg.

Brief history

Burton Albion were formed in 1950 and initially joined the Birmingham & District League. Nigel Clough spent seven seasons as the club’s player-manager in the Conference and then led them into the Football League as champions of the Conference in 2008–09. They lost the 2014 League Two play-off final, but went on to win the League Two title in 2014–15 and were promoted from League One in 2015–16. Burton spent two seasons in the Championship until relegation in 2018.

Opinion and quiz

Want to discuss things before, during and after the game? Our forum’s dedicated match thread is the place to be. Share your views with fellow fans

Pre-season games match thread

Have you been paying attention? Here’s our traditional preview quiz

(answers below – no cheating)

Quiz answers

1. Mark Robinson
2. Ben Whitfield
3. Ryan Loft
4. 1950