Danny Cowley salutes his Portsmouth 'spark' as dazzling Blackpool loanee inspires in-form Blues to Burton victory

The Blackpool loanee last week promised the Fratton faithful they hadn’t seen the best of him – and at Burton he conjured up his finest Blues display so far.

During a magnificent second half from Dale, he was involved in the build-up for the opening goal which resulted in Sam Hughes putting the ball into his own net on 59 minutes.

Then his right-wing cross was superbly turned home by Colby Bishop in the 86th minute to seal a 2-0 win at the Pirelli Stadium.

Man-of-the-match Dale helped Cowley’s men to a sixth win in eight League One games, taking them to 20 points by September 13.

And the Sky Bet League One Manager of the Month for August sung the praises of the former Crewe man.

Cowley told The News: ‘We had a really good way into the game, with Dane on the counter on two or three occasions in the opening 10-15 minutes.

‘Then the game got a little direct, we didn’t quite stamp our authority on it and maybe there were quite a lot of fouls and it was hard to find a rhythm.

‘But we came out in the second half and were able to affect that – and Owen Dale gave us the spark.

‘Ultimately, it was a really solid team performance and Owen had some really good moments in the first half, but in the second half he gave us the spark, which sometimes you need.

‘Sometimes you need everyone to have solid performances, which I think the team did, then one or two just to give you that difference.

‘That was a really good performance from Owen. It’s always interesting for me seeing how attacking players play away from home and, if you want to be successful, it’s really important you win away.

‘To do that you need our attacking players to turn up at difficult places like this – and they all did.

‘Owen was good tonight and will be the first to say it was a collective effort, there were a lot of good performances.

‘Marlon Pack and Tom Lowery did very well in the middle of midfield, the two centre-halves were colossal and, as a back four, it wasn’t easy.’

On a good evening for the leading clubs, Pompey remain second in League One behind Ipswich.

It was frustrating against Burton at times, particularly in the first half, but another win maintains an impressive start to the campaign.

Cowley added: ‘I thought it was a solid away performance.

‘It's never easy to come to Burton on a Tuesday night, particularly when they have a new manager and we knew we’d feel that new manager’s bounce and that they would play with more energy and intensity – which they did.

‘But I thought we were pretty determined and pretty resolute and competed well.

‘We had enough personality on the ball to find the important moments throughout the game.’