Rowett hails 'fantastic start'

Gary Rowett believes Burton are good value for their top-of-the-table status after a 2-0 defeat of Portsmouth on Sunday.

Goals from Adam McGurk and Lucas Akins extended Albion's unbeaten start to the season to eight games in all competitions. And it saw the Brewers return to the summit of Sky Bet League Two at this early stage in the campaign, consigning promotion favourites Pompey to a second league defeat in a row. Rowett said: "It's a fantastic start but we'll remain calm and keep going about our work to the best of our ability. "It was an excellent all-round performance by us. Some of aspects of our game were really good against a good side who I think had lost once in about 20 games since Andy Awford took over as manager. "Our attacking (play) was fantastic at times and we were very disciplined with our team shape. "Obviously scoring as early as we did was great because it always makes it difficult for any team when they have to chase the game. "The only thing I was slightly disappointed with was from the middle to the end of the first half we just didn't press with enough intensity in our own half. "That allowed them too many balls around the edge of the box, but I thought we did things much better in the second half and actually saw the game out fairly comfortably." Burton made the perfect start with the opening goal coming after one minute and 25 seconds. Pompey were caught cold as Stuart Beavon turned on a Akins centre to fire across goal, with McGurk on hand to fire into the roof of the net from close range. A fightback by the visitors was halted in the 56th minute when Akins turned just inside the area before lashing an effort past goalkeeper Paul Jones. Pompey boss Andy Awford felt his side paid for a sloppy start. He said: "I thought between the two boxes we did okay, but when you concede a goal in the first couple of minutes you're always up against it. "That was disappointing from our point of view, but we managed to work our way back into the game. "In the end, it was a case of them taking a couple of their chances while we've not taken ours. "We've had enough chances to win two football matches and that's the bit I'm concerned about. "But I'll also be talking to the players about the way we started the game, which is something we've got to improve on. "We needed to make a strong start but I think we were still on the coach. "If your look at the game overall, we've had more possession, we've had more chances and we've won more corners. "But you've got to take your chances and you've got to defend better."