It doesn't seem like five minutes ago that your preview writer was sat at his keyboard, wondering what he was going to say ahead of City's visit to Altrincham in August. Fast forward nearly nine months and here we are, at the end of another pulsating season. Well, not quite. For the second season in succession the season has extended into May, with the promise of another visit to the golden arch of Wembley, following the combination on Tuesday of City ripping Stafford to shreds and Stevenage caving in at home to lowly Northwich. There are two factors involved in City's visit to fellow playoff side Burton on Saturday - finalising the league position which would determine who faces who next week, and for City to maintain the momentum of three successive performances of the highest quality. It would be difficult to see Paul Tisdale make too many changes to his side - Dean Moxey earned his spurs on Tuesday night with a stunning hat-trick. If Steve Basham returns to fitness he could press for a start, but may instead need to find a place on the bench.

Burton Albion, still under the guidance of Nigel Clough, have achieved the playoff place that many pundits predicted pre-season, although current form has been up and down - a 4-1 defeat at Kidderminster a notable drubbing on Tuesday night. In Daryl Clare they have one of the most prodigious goalscoring talents on the non-league scene, while ex-City striker Jake Edwards may feature. After seeing Neil Grayson still plying his trade for Stafford on Tuesday night, Saturday sees an even older player in Kevin Poole hoping to keep his place in goal at the tender age of about 71.

Another reason why City will want to win so desperately on Saturday is to erase the memory of last November, when Burton inflicted City's only home league defeat of the season in a 4-1 annihilation. However, City will need to do something they have not yet achieved, and that is to win at Burton's new Pirelli Stadium - previous results have been 0-1 last season (in front of the Sky cameras) and possibly City's worst ever Conference performance the year before in losing 2-0.