MANAGER Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink described his Burton Albion side's 2-1 win over Portsmouth as a well-worked performance.
The Brewers recorded a deserved victory at Fratton Park, with Mike Fondop and Joe Powell netting superb goals either side of the break to keep Albion unbeaten under Hasselbaink and Dino Maamria away from home.
Pompey got one goal back late through Charlie Daniels but the Brewers, as they were throughout the 90 minutes, remained defensively resolute as the hosts chased the game.
And Hasselbaink was understandably pleased with another victory on the road.
“It was very tough,” said Hasselbaink. “The first half we contained them and made it really difficult for them.
“I thought we were solid in the first half. We know we’ve got a weapon with the long throw, they had significant problems with that and we scored from there (through Fondop).
“In the first half I thought we were the better team even though they had more of the ball. In the second half, we scored for 2-0 at the right time, and that sets them back a bit.
“They’ll come forward from there and we should maybe do a little bit better with the ball, but overall it was a well-worked performance.
“We really dug in at the difficult moments and I think a hard-fought three points was well earned.”
Hasselbaink was pleased for the two players who came into the starting XI this afternoon, Fondop and Powell, getting on the scoresheet and playing their parts in a fine team performance on the road.
The Brewers boss also confirmed that winger Jonny Smith is not injured, after coming off in the Easter Monday win over Swindon Town, but was simply not risked at Fratton Park with Powell given a chance from the start.
“We knew here that we were, at times, going to be under pressure and we would have to put balls up front,” said Hasselbaink.
“We needed somebody to hold the ball up and bring us in play, and that’s why we played Fondop.
“Jonny Smith could have played but he’s played so much football that we had to take him off at Swindon, where he had a little bit of a scare with his hamstring, and we didn’t really want to risk him today.
“We thought it was also a chance for Joe to come in and play from that side, from the left.”