Looking to advance into the second round of football's oldest cup competition, Burton Albion and Scarborough Athletic will lock horns at the Pirelli Stadium in the FA Cup on Saturday afternoon.
The Brewers are enduring a woeful start to the campaign in League One, whilst the Seadogs are marooned in the middle of National League North.
Match preview
After a 20th-placed finish in League One last term - finishing just two points and one place above the relegation zone - Burton Albion look set for another campaign of struggle this time around, with this weekend's FA Cup hosts enduring a terrible start to their sixth straight year in the third tier.
Following 12 League One contests, the Brewers are the only side in the 24-team division who are yet to enjoy the taste of victory, with the Midlands outfit currently occupying bottom spot in the League One table, already seven points behind Leyton Orient in the relative safety of 20th.
Burton's winless run across the third tier and EFL Trophy extended to eight matches last Saturday, when Tom Hounsell's troops were unable to earn anything tangible from a trip to relegation rivals Cambridge United, who secured three points courtesy of a strike from substitute Jordan Cousins.
A shining light amid a challenging period for the Brewers, summer arrival Danilo Orsi has assumed the role of talisman for his new employers so far this season, bagging five goals in 12 League One contests after a 25-goal campaign for newly-promoted Crawley Town in 2023-24.
Scrambling for positives ahead of Saturday's match, Burton will take confidence from the fact that their only win of the 2024-25 term to date arrived at their Pirelli Stadium base on August 20, when the hosts managed a 3-1 success over Leicester City Under-21s in the EFL Trophy.
Plying their trade in the depths of National League North during the 2024-25 campaign, Scarborough Athletic have navigated three rounds of preliminary qualifying to reach the first-round proper of the FA Cup, and Saturday's visitors did it in some style, earning their second-biggest win of the term last time out in this competition.
Fellow sixth-tier battlers Chester FC were the visitors to Flamingo Land Stadium on October 12, when a first-half penalty from Richie Bennett and a brilliant brace from Dom Tear meant that Iwan Murray's last-gasp strike was a mere consolation from the side near the Welsh border.
Since booking their spot amongst the League One and League Two clubs in the first round, the Seadogs have collected three points from three National League North matches, a spell which included back-to-back home defeats to Southport and Curzon during the middle of October.
As a result, a trip to relegation-threatened Marine was just what the doctor ordered for Scarborough last Saturday, when attacker Tear was at his clinical best yet again to secure a one-goal victory on Merseyside for the visitors, who currently sit 13th in National League North.
Best known for his playing days at Manchester United, Middlesbrough and West Bromwich Albion, former midfielder Jonathan Greening has been in the managerial hotseat for the Seadogs since July 2022, with the 45-year-old winning 48 of his 121 competitive matches in charge.
Team News
Although Burton may have one eye on a League One clash with Crawley on Tuesday night, the hosts should go strong on the weekend in order to advance.
As a result, we are expecting to see the likes of leading marksman Orsi and creative threat Billy Bodin starting for the Brewers against sixth-tier opposition.
Despite failing to keep a clean sheet at the home of Cambridge last weekend, Ryan Sweeney and Terence Vancooten should retain their spots in the heart of the defence.
Looking to continue their excellent form from the qualifying rounds, Tear and Bennett are likely to lead the Scarborough attack at the Pirelli Stadium.
The Seadogs will go as strong as possible as they seek a historic second-round spot, meaning that first-choice Ryan Whitley should start in between the sticks.
Burton Albion possible starting lineup:
Crocombe; Bannon, Vancooten, Sweeney, Armer; Watt, Chauke, Kalinauskas, Bodin, Whitfield; Orsi
Scarborough Athletic possible starting lineup:
Whitley; Brown, Maltby, Gooda, Thornton, Weledji; Wiles, Maloney, Purver, Tear; Bennett
We say: Burton Albion 2-1 Scarborough Athletic
Low on confidence due to their League One struggles, Burton could be unnerved by a shaky start at the Pirelli Stadium against non-league opposition.
That being said, the Brewers should have too much quality for Scarborough, who could be having nightmares about Orsi and Bodin on Saturday night.
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