JIMMY’S BREWING UP ESCAPE
Burton battlers back in mix
WHISPER it quietly but Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink may just be engineering the great escape with Burton Albion.
The former Dutch international returned to Staffordshire on New Year’s Day with a colossal task in front of him.
The Brewers were stranded at the bottom of League One, with just two wins to their name and stuck on an optimism-sapping seven-game winless run.
But Hasselbaink is a man already worshiped on the terraces of the Pirelli Stadium.
In his first spell with the Brewers, the ex-Premier League Golden Boot winner wrote his name into club folklore by lifting the League Two title in 2015. He then left for QPR midway through the following season with Burton sitting proudly at the top of the League One table.
Following yesterday’s 2-0 win at Rochdale, the early stages of his return are following a similarly remarkable trajectory.
Five wins from Hasselbaink’s opening seven games in charge have lifted them to fourth bottom, a raft of new signings have been quickly assembled and they are only in the drop zone on goal difference.
Tuesday night’s spirited 2-1 comeback win at play-off chasing Charlton was a perfect example of the Brewers’ change of fortune.
“I’m proud to come here, to one of the teams that everybody expects to do really well and go 1-0 behind early but not give up,” said Hasselbaink at The Valley. “The players reacted brilliantly and did really well for the next 60 minutes.
“It was a big performance, a big reaction, that’s what we wanted. The boys have been absolutely magnificent.”
Since Hasselbank’s return, no fewer than nine new players have arrived, seven of whom were in the squad for the inspired midweek victory in south London.
To successfully gel a much-changed team while manoeuvring League One’s frantic mid-winter schedule is no mean feat.
It is perhaps testament to the blossoming success of Hasselbaink’s reshuffle that both goals on Tuesday night were sculpted by players who had been at the club for no more than two weeks.
Former Wrexham and Chesterfield striker Mike Fondop, 27, marked his first start with a headed leveller, before 28-yearold ex-Ipswich winger Danny Rowe’s long-range deflected effort looped over the helpless Ben Amos to spark pandemonium in the away dugout midway through the second half.
Crucial
“The players have all adapted well which has been crucial,” added the Brewers boss.
“(Fondop) works so hard, he helps the team so much by holding the ball, which is what I love to see a striker do.
“As for Danny, believe me, there is a lot more to come from him. He is such a silky player who puts the defence in trouble as soon as he gets on the ball.
“He wasn’t fit enough to play the whole game and we took a bit of a risk by giving him a go but we were certainly rewarded!”
With a win ratio of over 60 per cent, Hasselbaink’s original 13 months in charge were statistically Burton’s most successful since the turn of the millennium.
During his first spell, the Dutchman cultivated a winning identity which resonated throughout the club, sending the Brewers on a one-way journey up the footballing pyramid.
We are still in the early days of the second coming but things are certainly pointing in the right direction again.