Exeter boss Gary Caldwell praised a “perfect away performance” after a 1-0 win at Burton sent the Grecians top of League One.
On-loan midfielder Ryan Trevitt scored the winner in the 75th minute.
“Absolutely delighted to come away from home and I thought it was a perfect away performance and a brilliant three points,” Caldwell said.
“I am really proud of them. We came with a clear game plan to dominate possession and control the game. With that you are always going to have to defend long throws and corners here.
“They are a good side that put you under a lot of pressure and when we were asked to do that, I thought we were excellent.”
Exeter survived a scare when Albion skipper John Brayford hit the bar inside the first 90 seconds before growing into the game.
Caldwell said: “We had to compete in those first 15 minutes to see off that early threat and then after 20 minutes or so we got control of the game and dominated possession and from there I felt very comfortable.”
Exeter proved difficult to break down and Caldwell praised the whole team approach to games.
“Our number nine is our first defender, and our goalkeeper is our first attacker,” he added.
“The way we want to play is to have that team ethos and right now we are getting both parts of the game right.”
Burton boss Dino Maamria had to watch from the stands as he served a one-match touchline ban and also saw his side finish with 10 men when substitute Steve Seddon was sent off for a second yellow card deep in added time.
“It was very tough for me,” he admitted.
“I never want to experience that again. Probably my team needed me today on the sidelines to inject that bit of energy in the second half.
“Exeter are a good team, very rigid and they don’t give a lot of chances away.
“I thought we had most of the game in the first half, but it was always going to be a tight game and whoever was going to score first, it was going to be difficult for the other team to come back.
“It was a sweet shot from Trevitt right into the bottom corner and we sent all our attackers on and some of them showed glimpses of what we can expect when they are fit.”
Goals have been a problem for the Brewers with most of their strikers injured or only just returning to fitness, but Maamria hopes that with two weeks off players will return and fortunes change.
He added: “Hopefully we can get some of our forward players back fit and that is what we are lacking. Everyone can see that we are lacking goals at the top end.”
