Stoke & Staffordshire

Tamworth have signed Ramell Carter from Premier League side Hull City on a short-term loan deal.

The 18-year-old striker came through Hull's academy but is yet to make any senior appearances for the club.

He spent the first two months of this season on loan at high-flying fellow National League side Worthing, making six appearances.

Carter started in five of those games, scoring his first senior goal in Worthing's 1-0 home win over Wealdstone in August.

The Lambs are currently 18th in the National League, two points and three places above the relegation zone.

Burton Albion boss Gary Bowyer has said the Brewers have made a "phenomenal" start to the League One campaign considering the circumstances they have been operating under.

The Brewers are 14th in the table after taking 14 points from their opening 12 matches.

They currently have up to eight players out injured, with just six fully fit first-teamers able to train on Thursday, and two or three more hoping to complete a full session on Friday.

Bowyer, 55, delivered a plea for help during the summer transfer window with the club limited in their transfer activity until eventually 11 new faces came through the door, either on loan or permanent deals.

They also sold seven players, including last season's top scorer Tyrese Shade to Portsmouth on transfer deadline day

Bowyer told BBC Radio Derby: "How we play and how we've adapted with the players we've been given is phenomenal to say that with 12 games in, all our opponents have been hugely complimentary to us about how we've played.

"I still think there are areas of the game where we can improve for sure, and it's a 'no-brainer' for me that we don't have that experience at the top end of the pitch.

"That would have made a massive difference for us. We've just got to work with the strikers that we've got."

Following Tuesday's impressive home draw with League One leaders at the time Bradford City, Burton welcome Richie Wellens' Leyton Orient to Pirelli Stadium on Saturday (15:00 BST).

This will be Burton's third league fixtures in eight days, and Bowyer laughs when asked about possibly rotating the squad.

"I don't feel we can even afford that luxury when everybody is fully fit to be honest. There will be no rotating," he added.

"Ironically, in a couple of weeks' time its the FA Cup and I just said to the staff we won't be rotating for that competition either. We'll go as strong as we possibly can, and that's we where we are."

Image source, Opta

In-form Stoke City will hope to pick up their seventh Championship win in nine games when they host Bristol City on Saturday afternoon (kick-off 15:00 BST).

The Potters bounced back from a narrow late defeat to Middlesbrough with a 1-0 win at Derby County last time out and start the weekend within three points of the automatic promotion places.

Meanwhile, the 16th-placed Robins have won just one of their past six games (D1 L4) and have only scored three goals in that time.

• After a run of five successive defeats between January 2019 and April 2023, Stoke City are unbeaten in their previous three home league games against Bristol City (W2 D1).

• After winning their most recent league game against Stoke City, Bristol City will be looking for successive wins in this fixture for the first time since April 2022.

• Stoke have won six of their past eight league games (D1 L1), with only West Ham United (20) collecting more points than the Potters in the Championship since the start of September (19).

• Bristol City have lost their past two league games by 1-0 scorelines, they haven't lost three in a row without scoring since February 2021 (run of four).

• Ethan Galbraith has assisted in three of his past four league games for Stoke, while he leads the Potters this season for league goal involvements (6).

Tim Durrans
BBC Sport England

Burton Albion defender Toby Sibbick says Tuesday's home draw with high-flying Bradford City was a good marker of the team's improvement.

Their visitors arrived as early League One leaders, while the Brewers are enjoying their best start to a campaign for five seasons.

The 0-0 draw gives Gary Bowyer's side 14 points from 12 games leaving them 14th, just four points outside the top six. They amassed 16 points at this stage under Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink in 2021-22.

"It was a good point at the end of the day," Sibbick told BBC Radio Derby.

"They ask questions of the defence and stick it on you. They're really good at set-pieces, and I thought we did really well, so overall it's a great point.

"Everyone is buying into it this season, and it's going well. We probably could have picked up a few more points along the way, but that's football."

Bowyer arrived in December 2024 with Burton nine points adrift of safety after just two wins from their opening 20 league games.

He kept them in the division, pulling off what was described as "a miracle", then guiding Burton to survival by a single point in 2025-26, and overseeing further improvement with a 17th-placed finish last season.

Sibbick says the team are starting to feel comfortable in what they are being asked to do as they bid to continue that upward trajectory.

"The staff have been really good with us this season," he added. "They've given us the freedom to play and get into good positions to show our talents.

"It starts from us at the back having the bravery to get on the ball, and give it to the forward players and hopefully they can work their magic."

Next up for the Brewers is a home game with fellow mid-table side Leyton Orient and Sibbick accepts one league win so far at the Pirelli Stadium is not good enough.

"I think that's something we need to start doing, winning more at home," he admitted. "We need to make this place tough to come.

"It's been a decent start for us, but we want to improve on it, and start climbing up the table, not looking behind us."

Image source, Shutterstock

Stoke City centre-back Luke Graham said the squad will continue to "not look back" after turning round their difficult start to the Championship season in emphatic style.

The Potters began the league campaign with three defeats but have bounced back superbly with a run of six wins in their past eight games, with their only loss coming in added time against Middlesbrough.

That run has taken Mark Robins' side up to sixth place after 11 matches, as the club target a successful bid for promotion back to the Premier League after what would be nine years.

Summer signing Graham, 22, has been an increasingly impressive presence in Stoke's new-look back three and scored his first goal for the club in the 1-0 win at Derby on Saturday.

"For all the signings it was going to take a bit of time to adjust, especially having the system and coming in a few games after the [start of the] season, but as a group we adapted to that instantly really and I think we've not looked back since," Graham told BBC Radio Stoke.

"It's just about keeping that going, keeping my feet on the ground and knowing that I've still got to work hard because I've not made it, yet I've still got a long way to go in my career."

Since Robins switched to three central defenders after their 4-1 defeat by Wolves at the end of August, the Boro loss is the only blemish for Stoke, who have beaten Norwich, Charlton, Watford, Sheffield United and Bolton - the latter with 10 men - and drawn at Cardiff.

"That shows the kind of characters we've got in the dressing room," Graham said.

"It's real tight, there's a togetherness, it's like a big family so we know going into any game we're going to fight throughout.

"We've faced a lot of different styles of football and I think we've handled the role in just about every game, so it's just about keeping that consistency and not getting too far ahead of ourselves.

"We're loving it at the minute, the way that we're playing and the way that we're battling for each other."