Niche Cache.
"Max Crocombe, back on April 20: “The noise was magnificent, I could hear them from the changing rooms when I went back in before kick-off. That sort of stuff gets you over the line because you can see what it means to them. It’s important that we respect that by giving our all, hopefully then we can give them something to smile about at the end of the season.”
There has been an unfortunate amount of relegation chat in recent weeks so here’s a glorious tale of a team that might just survive the drop despite all the odds. It took Burton Albion until their 14th game of the season to finally get a win and they’ve been adrift in the relegation zone basically the entire way. But it’s a long campaign in League One and Burton have steadily been stacking up the points since January. After winning 2/25 games to begin things, they’ve won 9/19 since. The latest was
a 2-1 victory against Cambridge United which not only confirmed that Cambridge would be going down, it put Burton on the brink of mathematical safety.
Crocombe was typically assertive between the posts, making four saves including an impressive double stop midway through the second spell while Burton were up 1-0. In a feisty game, both teams got red cards in first half stoppage time. Cambridge first, Ryan Loft getting marched for a bit of off-ball retaliation. Then Burton’s JJ McKiernan for a second-yellow after clattering into the CU goalkeeper. Cambridge thought they’d snatched a point with an 84th minute equaliser until Dylan Williams slipped a sharp finish home in injury time to put Burton one point away from their target with two games to go (including a midweek catch-up)... and even if they lose both they’ll probably still stay up thanks to their goal difference.
The key to Burton Albion’s goal difference is that, despite not scoring particularly freely, they’ve conceded ten fewer than Bristol Rovers and twenty fewer than Crawley Town (the two clubs that can still, in some abstract theory, overtake them). That’s probably got a lot to do with the New Zealand international goalkeeper who has made 128 saves in 41 appearances this season. Third-most in the entire league and with that game in hand he could go top before it’s over."
