Joey Barton warns Posh what to expect at Burton Albion and won’t be pretty

Barton’s Bristol Rovers lost a key League One relegation battle at Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink’s Burton on Tuesday 1-0, conceding a goal two minutes after going down to 10 men.

And it’s fair to say Barton didn’t like what he saw, telling the Bristol Post: “They just played hoof ball. Bang it long and scrap for the second phase. They also had players throwing themselves on the floor looking for free kicks,

“They’re a set-piece, long-ball team. They have a gft 3in centre forward (Mike Fondop-Talem) who was throwing himself to the floor every time there was contact. The reality of it is if you exaggerate contact, it’s diving.

“They won and they’ve been on a great run under Jimmy, but I ain’t standing on the sideline watching that type of football.

“Jimmy’s had a go in the Championship and that type of football, with better players, doesn’t last two minutes when you’re up there and you play against some quality outfits.”

Hasselbaink’s view was a little different. He conceded his side had trouble against wing-backs in the first-half. He said: “They gave us trouble in the wide areas, with their wing-backs. “They were good and we didn’t play well,

“You can’t play every match well - you need to find a way to win. Some will say it wasn’t deserved and look, we didn’t perform the best we could, but we’ll take the three points.

“Three points are vital for us at the moment. We made mistakes, but we found a way and that was the most important thing.”

BURTON SQUAD

New manager Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink carried out a January overhaul of his squad which including taking Posh summer signing Ryan Broom on loan. He won’t be able to play against his parent club.

Top scorer Kane Hemmings survived the cull. He scored two of his nine goals in a 2-2 draw at Posh earlier this season.

Veterans Lucas Akins (32) and Michael Bostwick (32) also remain key men at Burton. Posh signed Bostwick from Stevenage for £800k in 2012 and he made over 200 appearances before moving on to Lincoln.

Fondop-Talem scored on his full debut for Burton at Charlton after signing from Aldershot.

BURTON FORM

Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink has transformed Burton’s season. The Brewers were rock-bottom when he took over as manager at the start of the year, but six wins in eight matches has shot them up to 18th. They collected a third straight win when beating Bristol Rovers 1-0 in a big relegation battle on Tuesday, four days after winning another key game 2-0 at Rochdale.

PAST MATCHES

It’s 1-1 with one draw in previous Football League matches between Burton Albion and Posh at the Pirelli Stadium.

Mo Eisa, who was deputising for Ivan Toney, opened the scoring in the 52nd minute last season, but John Brayford soon levelled for the hosts and the match finished 1-1.

Steve Evans oversaw the only win for Posh, 2-1 in October 2018, thanks to a superb strike from Joe Ward and a Siriki Dembele goal.

Burton won 2-1 in their promotion year of 2015. Marcus Maddison scored a beauty for 10-man Posh after Gaby Zakuani’s dismissal.

KEY LEAGUE ONE GAMES

Saturday: Accrington v Swindon, Doncaster v Plymouth, Gillingham v Ipswich, Hull v Bristol Rovers, Lincoln v Crewe,

Northampton v Portsmouth, Oxford v Charlton, Sunderland v Rochdale.

REFEREE

First season Football League referee Carl Brook is in charge at the Pirelli Stadium tomorrow.

This will be his first look at Posh, but he did referee Doncaster’s 3-1 win at Burton earlier this season, one of just three League One matches he’s refereed so far.

Brook has issued 72 yellow cards and three red cards in 21 matches this season. He’s on a 20-game streak of issuing at least one card.

ODDS

Posh are now even money favourites to win League One, They are 1/3 to win promotion.

Posh are 17/20 to win at Burton tomorrow. Burton to win is 13/5 and the draw 5/2.