Football VAVEL

Burton Albion - Fleetwood Town: The biggest game in their history

Burton and Fleetwood meet in the League Two playoff final for a place in League One.

Burton Albion - Fleetwood Town: The biggest game in their history
jimmy-cartwright
By James Cartwright

Burton Albion meet Fleetwood Town in the biggest game in both club's history.

Neither side has been past League Two during their stay in the Football League, which has been brief in comparison to most clubs.

Burton's first season in League Two was back in 2008-09, while Fleetwood's debut season was in the 2012-13 season.

Burton are arguably the favourites heading into the game given the way they dispatched Soutend United over two legs. Their second half performance at Roots Hall was solid and effective as they secured the draw that got them into the final.

Fleetwood were perhaps lucky to make it past York City. The Cod Army were on the back foot for the majority of the second leg  as York almost clawed back on the lead that Fleetwood had gained at Bootham Crescent.

Burton manager Gary Rowett is not seeing the game at Wembley as a special occassion.

“We won’t go down three days before, we won’t be wearing white suits – we’ll be the same as normal and I think that way the players will be as focused as possible.

“We don’t wear suits for away games, so we’re not going to wear suits for Wembley," Rowett said.

On-loan Preston defender Shane Cansdell-Sherriff is also wary not to carried away by the occassion.

"You have to be careful because you can get wrapped up in the excitement and glory of Wembley.

"You can go to big stadiums, big grand finals, and be absolutely knackered after five minutes purely because the energy within is being drawn out by everything around you," he said.

Fleetwood manager Graham Alexander knows all too well about the difficulties of playoff football after playing in them with Luton, Scunthorpe, Preston and Burnley.

“I’ve been through the lot, semi-finals, finals, success failure, League Two, League One, Championship,” said Alexander.

“I’ve been through a lot over that time and I’ve tried to use that experience for the benefit of the players.

“I’ve not talked to them about my past, I never do that. But I’ve let them know how I prepared as a player, how I went into the games mentally.

“I’ve tried to give that to the players. But you’re talking about 20 individuals and they’ll all prepare in their own way."

Team News

Burton Albion- Zeli Ismail and Shane Cansdell-Sherriff are both doubts for the Brewers. While Ian Sharps remains suspended.

Fleetwood Town- Jeff Hughes remains out of action after suffering a broken leg in January.