Tonight Solihull Moors welcomed Burton Albion to Damson Park for the first home pre season fixture ahead of the 2026/2027 campaign, which gets underway on Saturday, August 8th away to Harrogate Town. After a composed start to the game, Burton Albion scored the first goal on the 8th minute, with the first effort on target for either team. Kyran Lofthouse collected the ball in the middle of the park, advanced towards the Moors box and hit a fine right footed effort into the bottom left corner. Moors 0-1 Burton Albion. On the 35th minute, Albion had a throw which eventually was passed back to the goalkeeper, Corey Addai. On clearing the ball, it went straight to Ben Worman, who had an easy job of tapping the ball into the empty net. Moors 1-1 Albion. A minute into the second half, and the Moors came out lively with the Albion keeper keeping himself big and making a fine double save to deny the Moors from scoring again. In the final minute, a slick one two put through the Albion centre forward who hit a hard low effort in which the Moors keeper made a great save. The follow up effort from 20 yards sailed over the bar. The match ended Solihull Moors 1 Burton Albion 1. Next up for the Moors is the last pre season fixture against League Two side Northampton town on Saturday, August 1st kicking off at 13:00. You can purchase your tickets here Match report written by Bryan Connolly

Following victory against Hereford last time out, Chris Millington’s Solihull Moors side are set to continue their preparations for the upcoming 2026/27 Enterprise National League season by welcoming Burton Albion, led by Gary Bowyer, to Damson Park. Burton’s most recent friendly saw them take on Championship outfit Birmingham City at the Pirelli Stadium, where they would go on to be narrowly defeated 1 – 0 thanks to a first-half goal from forward August Priske. Prior to the Brewers’ formation, several clubs called Burton home: Burton Wanderers, Burton Swifts, and Burton United. Once they had all ceased to exist, a public meeting took place on 6th July 1950 looking to bring football back to the town, and this led to Burton Albion coming into existence. During the early years of the club, they competed in the Birmingham & District League, with the 1953/54 campaign seeing them finish as high as second place whilst also winning the Birmingham Senior Cup by getting the better of Bierley Hill in the Final. They reached the Third Round Proper in the FA Cup in the 1955/56 season, losing 7 – 0 to Charlton Athletic at The Valley. Near the end of that campaign, they beat Tamworth 2 – 0 to win the Staffordshire Senior Cup. By 1958, they had joined the Southern League whilst also moving to a new home, Eton Park, from Wellington Street. They then went on to become the first side to sit outside of the Premier Division to win the Southern League Cup six years later, beating the competition favourites Weymouth 5 – 2. The Brewers were led at the time by the legendary Peter Taylor. Fast forward to 1981, the Midlands side secured the appointment of Neil Warnock as their new boss after departing Gainsborough Trinity. They did lose 6 – 1 against Leicester in the FA Cup thanks to a hat trick from Gary Lineker, though after this result was overturned, they only narrowly lost the replay 1 – 0 behind closed doors at Coventry City’s former home, Highfield Road. In 1997, then Manager John Barton won a cup double after securing the Southern League Cup and the Birmingham Senior Cup. Then came one of the most important appointments in the history of The Brewers – Nigel Clough. Clough joined them in October 1998. In his first years at the club, together with assistant Gary Crosby, Clough’s Burton Albion finished as the runners-up of the Southern League Premier Division, which saw them only just miss out on a long-awaited promotion to the National Conference. Albion then returned to the Northern Premier League in 2001, winning the league title – the club’s first in its history. Promotion to the aforementioned National Conference had been obtained, with them scoring more than 100 goals whilst also having a mean defence that saw them concede just 30. Burton moved to their current home, the Pirelli Stadium, in 2005, facing Chester City in a friendly game. It was then opened officially by legendary manager Sir Alex Ferguson, and his Manchester United side would then be drawn against the Brewers in the FA Cup Third Round Proper just weeks later. The Red Devils were held to a goalless draw, which was a historic result for Burton in front of what was a then-record crowd of 6,191. They lost the replay 5 – 0 at Old Trafford. Burton won the 2008/09 Conference title with Roy McFarland in charge after Clough had departed for Derby County midway through the season. They also set a record that term when they won 12 games in a row. The Brewers’ first season in League Two was successful under new permanent boss Paul Peschisolido in charge with Gary Rowett as his assistant. They consolidated in the fourth tier in 2009/10, though the following season was more of a struggle, surviving only after going on a significant run of wins in the final months and weeks of the season. They had reached the Third Round Proper of the FA Cup, only being knocked out by Burnley after beating Middlesbrough in the previous round. Following Peschisolido’s departure, the aforementioned Gary Rowett then took charge in 2012, where he was caretaker before taking on the job on what was a permanent basis. The 2013/14 season saw them achieve a very credible 4th place finish in League Two under Rowett, losing 5 – 4 on aggregate to Bradford City on aggregate in the semi-finals of that season’s play-offs. They were then beaten in the 2015 League Two play-offs final by Fleetwood Town at Wembley Stadium after the Brewers were beaten 1 – 0 by the Cod Army. Burton Albion had a strong start to the following season, and despite Rowett’s mid-season departure for Birmingham City, they were still able to go on to be promoted to League One following a victory over Morecambe in April 2015. Under then-boss Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink, they had lost only 3 of their last 30 games that term. They secured promotion by winning the title, which they secured by beating narrowly beating Cambridge United 3 – 2. After Hasselbaink left for QPR in December 2015 with Burton top of the tree in League One, club legend Nigel Clough made his return to the club, and he went on to take them to promotion to England’s second tier, the EFL Championship. One step below the Premier League, they shocked many in the world of football by securing survival in the 2016/17 season, though they were relegated in the season that followed, finishing 23rd and being relegated to League One, even though they had managed to secure wins against the likes of Fulham, Birmingham City, and Sunderland. It was a first relegation for 40 years, only going down after Bolton completed a dramatic turnaround to beat Nottingham Forest. A League Cup campaign in 2018/19 saw them beat sides including Shrewsbury Town, Aston Villa, Burnley, Nottingham Forest, and Middlesbrough; they then met Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City over two legs in the semi-finals, where they were beaten ruthlessly by what was an aggregate scoreline of 10 – 0. Nigel Clough departed in 2020 before being replaced by Jake Buxton. Then, in January 2021, Buxton was replaced himself by Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink, who returned to the Pirelli Stadium hotseat. The 2020/21 League One season saw them end up in 16th place by the season’s end before finishing in the same position the next campaign. After a disastrous run of form that saw them not win any of their first eight games in 2022/23. Hasselbaink was dismissed from his position in September 2022; he was succeeded by Dino Maamria. Maamria led them to recover form for what was a 15th place finish in the end before departing at Christmas in the 2023/24 season. Form then improved again under Martin Paterson, who steered them to a 20th place finish, only just avoiding relegation. They finished 20th again in 2024/25, finishing only three points above the drop. Last season, 2025/26, was again spent in League One. This time they finished up in 17th place after being able to secure safety and a total of 54 points after accumulating 13 wins, 15 draws, and 18 defeats in 46 games in the third tier. They will be hoping to finish higher in the League One table by the time that the 2026/27 campaign comes to a close. In the opposition dugout – Gary Bowyer Gary Bowyer is the current Head Coach of Burton Albion Football Club, having taken charge back on 17th December 2024. He led them to safety in League One in the 2024/25 season after he joined the club, where the Brewers were sat in 23rd place, with them being a total of 9 points away from safety at the time. Ahead of his time with Burton, he has previously been in charge of the likes of Blackburn Rovers (Caretaker & Permanent Manager: 2012 – 2013; 2013; 2013 - 2015), Blackpool (2016 - 2018), Bradford City (2019 - 2020), Salford City (2021 - 2022), and finally Dundee FC from 8th June 2022 to 10th May 2023. Bowyer also had a playing career lasting for 8 years between 1989 and 1997, representing Hereford United (1989 - 1990), Nottingham Forest (1990 - 1995), and finally Rotherham United from 1995 to 1997. Key Player – Tyrese Shade Tyrese Shade is one of Burton Albion’s standout players, and last term he was their leading goal scorer in all competitions, scoring a total of 14 goals overall. Shade joined Burton Albion on 30th July 2025, doing so on a permanent basis from National League side Eastleigh. He began his career at Solihull Moors in 2016 before joining Leicester City in 2017. He then had a loan spell with Walsall in the 2021/22 season before becoming a Swindon Town player on a permanent basis in 2022. After spending two years with The Robins, he re-joined Solihull Moors this time on loan in February 2024 before going on to join Eastleigh ahead of his move to Burton in 2025. Opposition preview written by Adam Holt

Our latest pre-season friendly saw us come away with a solid 3-0 victory. We visited National League North side Hereford at the MandM Edgar Street stadium, as we ramped up our preparations for the upcoming season against tough opposition. A welcome return to the starting lineup for attacker Jacob Wakeling was short-lived, taking a knock early on, before been replaced just before the half-hour mark by Charlie Footes. Tyrell Warren made his first start for The Moors in defence, looking solid and assured just a day after signing for the Club. The first half was an even affair, with not much to note in terms of chances on a difficult, slightly sloped pitch in windy conditions. Hereford came closest to opening the scoring, with Keziah Martin forcing a good save from Nat Ford, palming the ball away for a corner. The second half started much the same, and it took until the 56th minute to break the deadlock. Junior Tiensia showing tremendous pace to beat Kyle Howkins to a long ball down the left flank, before driving inside and firing past goalkeeper Theo Richardson to put us a goal ahead, with what his first goal since returning to The Moors. 0-1 Shortly after conceding, Hereford made a host of changes, bringing on several of their under-18's, giving them invaluable experience of senior football. The tempo understandably dropped after so many changes, but with 5 minutes of the 90 remaining, a Moors corner led to Callum McFarlane having a good header well saved by Hereford keeper Ollie Lewis, only for Kian Ryley to be in the right place at the right time, to rifle home. 0-2. A minute later, with the result now beyond doubt, The Moors managed to put a bit of gloss on the scoreline, forcing an own goal after good work down the right-hand side. A Hereford defender glanced the ball into his own net under pressure. 0-3. Game over. Full time saw Chris Millington's men secure back-to-back wins in pre-season after previously not tasting victory in the first three fixtures. All in all, a good afternoon's work, more minutes in the tank, a clean sheet, 3 goals and a run out for several the new signings and youngsters. Bulls manager Aaron Downes praised his sides mentality and work rate against higher division opponents, and despite the eventual scoreline, had a lot to be positives to take away. We'd like to wish Hereford all the best for the new season. Next up, we host League One outfit Burton Albion at Damson Park on Tuesday, 28th July at 7pm. Don't miss out on our penultimate fixture before our National League campaign begins. Tickets are priced: Adult - £9.00 Under 18 - £6.00 To purchase yours, visit the link below https://solihullmoorsfc.ticketco. events/uk/en/e/solihull_moors_vburton?version=m Match report written by Scott Cattell