Why Matty Lund has a 'clean slate' at Burton Albion

Nigel Clough says the new season offers a "clean slate" to Matty Lund and his Burton Albion team-mates.

Pre-season has afforded opportunities to those on the fringes of Clough's squad last season, with Albion losing their battle for Championship safety.

Lund was deemed surplus to requirements in January, heading back north to Bradford City having become Clough's first signing of last summer, joining from Rochdale on a free transfer.

Damien McCrory, who worked his way back into the side toward the end of last season, also spent time out on loan, at Portsmouth, before returning having had knee surgery.

Ben Fox and Marcus Harness have featured in pre-season following their stints at Gateshead and Port Vale respectively.

"It's a clean slate," Clough said.

"He's (Lund) came back for pre-season having been out on loan for the second half of last season at Braford.

"Everybody starts afresh, when they come back for pre-season everyone gets an equal opportunity.

"He's certainly an option we've got in there."

It is Lund who impressed most in Saturday's 5-1 defeat to Cardiff City - he looked like a man eager to start the League One season opener against former side Rochdale.

Playing to the right of Kyle McFadzean, who operated in a holding role, Lund lead the high press that we have seen so often throughout pre-season.

The 27-year-old struggled to adjust to the pace of the Championship last season, but there is no doubt he and fellow ex-Dale man Jamie Allen can flourish at this level.

But it is about getting the most out of the Northern Ireland international, who excelled for Rochdale two seasons ago from a similar position he started in on Saturday, on right of a three-man midfield in a 4-3-3 formation.

So could the Brewers, injuries permitting, line up in a similar system on Saturday?

"That's an option for us," Clough said of the formation deployed against Cardiff. "And sometimes, depending on position and who we've got available, we'll try to get somebody else up with him (Boyce).

"But today I thought if you look at Allen and Lund making runs off him, and Kyle sitting just behind them and the wide men joining in, you can see the problems they caused Cardiff in the first 30 or 40 minutes of the game.

"And they could have been 3-0 ahead, as we could have been against Aston Villa, but we missed our chances and the first time they got in our penalty area, they scored."