JFH: TOO SOON TO SEE LIGHT AT END OF TUNNEL:
BURTON Albion supporters may be raising their hopes about the team winning their battle against relegation from League One but Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink insists he is not seeing a light at the end of the tunnel just yet.
Ever the realist, the manager continues to say that he is not yet studying the permutations of the league table but focusing only on winning points, week in, week out.
But, after four wins in six games since Hasselbaink’s arrival, there is unlikely to be a fan who has not looked at a table which shows that Burton could climb six places, out of the drop zone, if they were to win away to fellow strugglers Rochdale today (3pm). Hasselbaink is unmoved.
“I don’t want to look at the table, as I’ve said. Unfortunately, people are reminding me and showing me all the time,” he said.
“We can’t get carried away. I don’t see a light in the tunnel yet. It’s far away.
“I hope we see it very quick but you can’t think about it. Let’s do the process first, game after game.
“I am just trying to pick up points and points and points and then we’ll get up the table.
“Before we start talking about results, you have to put the work in, do the other bits first, the process.
“You concentrate on that and you will get the results with it, the majority of the time.”
Predicting what might happen against a Rochdale team who won 1-0 at the Pirelli Stadium earlier in the season is tricky.
Dale have been involved in two 3-3 draws, a 4-4 draw and a 4-3 defeat since the turn of the year, yet have now scored only once in their last five matches, drawing the last two 0-0.
Their 41 goals is the highest tally of the struggling group and they have the most favourable goal difference.
Hasselbaink believes he has spotted why the goals have dried up their matches.
“They have changed their approach,” he said.
“At the start of the season, when they were getting lots of big scores, they were open and expansive and wanted to play out from the back.
“They were good at it, with the ball, but they got a lot of goals against
and now they are more reserved.
“They’re waiting more, to win the ball in certain areas and counterattack you. I can see why they have kept clean sheets in the last two matches.
“They are hard to break down and we need to find a way to do that without falling into their traps.”
That the game is against fellow strugglers who the Brewers can draw level with on points if they win is irrelevant to the manager.
“It’s not how I’ve approached it. I have looked at what they do, how strong they are in certain areas, how we cope with it and seeing where we can attack them and win the game,” he said.
He is still pumped up about how his players did just that against a Charlton Athletic side who dominated the first 15 minutes of Tuesday night’s match and took an early lead.
“We adjusted, we got back in the game and that was very encouraging,” added Hasselbaink.
“After that, we looked stronger and stronger against a very good team. We could have made it 3-1 or 4-1 but let’s not be greedy.
“We deserved to win. Yes, my keeper made two really good saves but so did theirs. We needed a big reaction after Saturday (the 3-0 defeat to Sunderland) and we got it.”