Boss happy to take another 1-0 win
Burton Albion manager Gary Rowett praised the Brewers' ability to see out games after his side finished 2013 with a 1-0 win against Newport County AFC.
A late Billy Kee strike, the 50th Football League goal of his career was enough to see the Brewers move to joint top of Sky Bet League 2 as they ended 2013 on song.
Rowett told Brewers Player: "I heard the crowd at about 83 minutes start singing, 'we only win 1-0' and I wondered if that was a bit premature but we are seeing games out really well and also we're not having the nervy las five or 10 minutes that we've had previously.
"I am really pleased with the way that we're doing it and sometimes people will start to see 1-0 as a negative result but we're scoring the goal, creating chances and we're keeping clean sheets and we're doing it with relative comfort."
With two more 1-0 wins over the festive period, the Brewers have now won eight of their 12 league wins by the same scoreline and the manager believes the win over promotion rivals Newport County will send a message to the rest of Sky Bet League 2.
"I am really pleased with the way the players have set about these two festive games," he said.
"I think the message it sends out to the rest of the league is that Burton are a good side and we're humble and we want to work hard.
"We know that it's nothing at the moment and it means absolutely nothing, the league doesn't start in earnest until March, April time as we found last season.
"What we've done is we've showed that we're a very consistent side capable of challenging both seasons and that's the key," he explained.
The manager will use last season's promotion pursuing experiences as his side lie level on points with Chesterfield and Scunthorpe with 2014 on the horizon.
"We've managed to maintain our success and maybe that's because the expectation is not as high, we just get on with our work and try and be as good as we can.
"We've had two fantastic results and I couldn't have asked for an awful lot more."
Rowett admitted after the 1-0 win that he has trusted the players to use the festive period to recharge their batteries but still focus on the job in hand, winning football matches.
"The way the players have gone about both performances has been terrific and we've given them a certain amount of trust in that they had Christmas Day off when a lot of teams were in training."
He added: "I think the fact that they've been at home and around their families has meant they have come to the games in good spirits."