Burton Albion: Stride in for suspended Branston
Stride will replace team captain Guy Branston at the heart of the Burton defence.
Branston collected his fifth booking of the season in the 2-0 home defeat by Accrington Stanley on Tuesday night and will serve a one-match suspension.
Manager Paul Peschisolido is always cagey about his potential team selections ahead of games but the cruciate ligament injury suffered by Ryan Austin in last week's FA Cup second round defeat at Gillingham limits his current options in defence and makes Stride's reappearance a near-certainly.
Aaron Brown, more naturally a centre-half, replaced Austin at right-back against Gillingham and stayed in that position against Accrington.
Elsewhere on the pitch, Peschisolido is pondering other changes to try to bring back the spark his team showed earlier in the season.
Whatever moves he makes will also be influenced by the feeling that, as he acknowledges, other teams are starting to work out Burton's game plan.
Midfield duo Michael Simpson and John McGrath have been crucial to the Brewers' success in the last couple of seasons but there is a chance one of them may be rested tomorrow, with the arguably more athletic Russell Penn deployed in his preferred central midfield position.
The Brewers have accommodated Penn by playing 4-3-3 in some games recently but the manager feels that they are more comfortable with 4-4-2.
If that is the case, another possibility is a surprise move to left-midfield for long-serving left-back Aaron Webster, replaced in defence by Paul Boertien on Tuesday and left out of the match-day 18.
Whether Webster (pictured) plays or not, Peschisolido has assured him that he remains very much part of his plans.
"I wanted to bring Paul Boertien back because I think his distribution is better and, at home, I didn't really need two defenders on the bench.
"It may have been harsh, because Aaron hasn't played badly, but that was the only reason he was left out," said Peschisolido.
"I would hope that he was disappointed.
"I talked to him about it and he agreed that he can do better on the ball, as he does when he's really on his game.
"But I have assured him that he has a very big part to play at this club."
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