For many clubs, going away from home in the Championship and consistently collecting points is not an easy task.
It is often the hallmark of clubs challenging for promotion – winning their home games and then, while collecting the occasional victory on the road, generally being solid and grinding out valuable draws.
For clubs at the other end of the table – like Burton Albion – away games can be where the points tally stalls.
But this term, it is different for the Brewers.
Paradoxically, and in contrast to long spells of their previous Championship season, they are enjoying life on the road, having collected seven points from their last seven games away from the Pirelli Stadium.
Fellow strugglers Bolton Wanderers, for example, are giving their survival hopes a bigger boost on home soil, with eight of a possible 12 points being picked up in their last four matches at the Macron Stadium.
Albion head there a fortnight after Saturday’s trip to Derby County, which is followed by the visit of Preston North End on December 9.
The Pirelli faithful are not currently being rewarded for turning up week in, week out – with six straight home defeats now chalked up.
But those who put the miles in following the Brewers are.
And it is the manner of their away performances that are the most pleasing for Nigel Clough, with resolute defending in the draws against Norwich City, Bristol City and Brentford, coupled with the win at Millwall earlier this month, showcasing the Brewers at their best in the second tier.
Arguably the most frustrating thing for Albion is that if they could sort their home form out, they would be taking a second season in the fifth biggest league in Europe in their stride.
Their knack for defending on the road will face an entirely different test when they and an army of Brewers fans make the short hop up the A38 to Pride Park on Saturday afternoon, though.
That trip brings with it the task of negotiating a flying Rams side who dispatched a Middlesbrough outfit harbouring promotion ambitions of their own 3-0 on Saturday.
Burton tackling their near-neighbours in another League clash is symbolic for plenty of reasons.
But now is not a time for sentiment – it is time for Nigel Clough and Albion to pull out yet another positive result on the road.
They are unbeaten against Derby in League football and the 0-0 draw in February, when the finishing line of Championship survival was in sight, will surely be drawn upon for inspiration this weekend.
They will, of course, have to stop an in-form Matej Vydra, whose hat-trick on Saturday took him to 11 goals this season – one short of Burton’s tally in the League so far.
He was unable to help them overcome a resolute Ipswich Town side on Tuesday night, though, as they slumped to a 1-0 defeat to Mick McCarthy's side.
It is almost with a sense of relief that the Brewers are on the road again, given their struggles at home this term.
Clough will be hoping those performances against the in-form duo of Bristol City and Brentford, among others, can provide a template for how to shut down the high-flying Rams.
Clough suggested in an interview with Channel 5 following Saturday’s defeat to Sunderland – a clip that has done the rounds on social media – that "there is no logic to Burton Albion in the Championship."
But he and his players have shown they can do the business on the road in this division time and again – and when Saturday comes, they will need to stifle another form team with that trademark Burton Albion stubbornness.
