Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink to consider if he is still the man to lead Burton

Posted Sunday, August 21, 2022 by PA

Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink will consider his Burton future after a 2-0 loss to Port Vale left them without a win this season.

Ben Garrity give Vale a 49th-minute lead after absorbing plenty of Burton pressure in the first half, before Ellis Harrison wrapped things up in stoppage-time on the counter attack.

Some fans made their feelings heard at the end and Hasselbaink knows something – perhaps even the manager – has to change.

“I will reflect,” Hasselbaink said. “I will look and have a think and if I need to go, I will go.”

Albion have scored in just one of their games this season and Hasselbaink is feeling the pressure of a poor start to the campaign.

“The chairman doesn’t have to push me,” he said. “I don’t want to see this club suffering. We all know how I think about this club. Do I think we can get out of this? Yes. One hundred per cent. But football has a short memory.

“If I am not for them then I need to think about it and I need to do what I need to do.

“I have to look and say is it me? Am I the problem and if I am the problem then somebody else needs to come in and do it better and get them playing better.

“I like the club too much for the fans, or me or the chairman to suffer, but we have to be realistic. Do I expect better today? Yes. And there is where you need to judge me. On that, and today was just not good enough.”

Assistant manager Andy Crosby was very happy with his side’s strong performance as Vale took the spoils.

“We got the early goal in the second half and I think we should have had a penalty, but delighted from there with how we managed the game and when the second chance came along Ellis stuck it away and although you are never comfortable, at 2-0 that late, on we saw the game out well,” Crosby said.

“We knew what sort of game we were going to have to embrace today. It was about dealing with first contacts, winning second balls and trying to play in moments when we could.

“There was a really strong mentality to the group and I thought we defended our box really, really well and Jack Stevens probably walks away with a clean sheet today having had not very much to do.”

Victory gave Vale a first away win of the season as they continue to consolidate on their return to League One and Crosby added that the clean sheet was important to his side as well.

“The lads put their bodies on the line, whoever was on the pitch and we walk away delighted with three points and a clean sheet,” he said.