Powell’s so pleased to repay trust of manager

JOE Powell felt he had repaid his manager’s trust in him by scoring Burton Albion’s second goal in the 2-1 win against Portsmouth.

The young midfielder struck soon after half-time when Sean Clare rolled a free kick to him 35 yards out and he lashed a fierce shot into the net to Craig Macgillivray’s left, the Pompey keeper getting nowhere near it.

Powell started the first two matches under Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink’s management but, since then, his last 11 appearances had been from the bench.

Against Portsmouth, with Jonny Smith not risked, he was handed a starting place and had a solid game, obviously highlighted by the goal.

“They (Hasselbaink and his assistant Dino Maamria) have had to come in and do their thing to get us out of the situation we were in,” said Powell.

“I have to respect that but it’s nice that he trusted me to throw me in and I think I gave him something back with that goal.

“I’ve come on in a couple of games and got assists, so it’s good that I’m still getting minutes and he is showing a bit of trust in me even when I’ve not been starting.”

Powell highlighted the togetherness and willingness to battle in the squad that is seeing them move away from the League One drop zone and the Portsmouth game was a good example.

“It was a very good win. They are very good on the ball and they made it difficult for us,” he said.

“We just had to make sure everyone was doing their defensive duties correctly.

“They found it very hard to break us down and that’s a good positive to take from the game.

“It was massive to come away with three points.

“They (the management) have put together a well-structured team and we battle every game out.

“You have to stick together and do as much as you can.”

Mike Fondop opened the scoring in first-half stoppage time, which, said Powell, was just the boost the team needed.

“The first goal came from one of Tom Hamer’s long throws again, which we’ve been loving recently,” he said.

“Mike Fondop managed to get it over the line and as you could see from the celebration, the boys were buzzing to get that on the stroke of half-time.

“It meant we could go out in the second half on a positive note trying to get the next one to kill off the game.”

That goal came very quickly and Powell said as soon as the free kick was awarded he fancied his chances of going for goal.

“I looked at it and it was in the centre of the goal. If it had been a bit wider, it would have made it more difficult,” he said,

“Because it was so straight, I just asked Sean to roll it to me and I’d put my laces through it. Well I say that, but they are laceless boots!

“At the time, I was more relieved than anything that it went in. I didn’t really celebrate until the boys jumped on me.

“I was buzzing with it then and had a little bit of banter with Sean, I said ‘mate, I can’t believe you’ll get an assist for that, you only rolled it two yards’ and he was laughing about that.”