Ritchie Warns Toon Fans

Last updated : 03 April 2017 By Footy Mad - Editor

Matt Ritchie knows Burton Albion's 1-0 victory at Huddersfield Town on Saturday shows just how much of a threat they can pose to Newcastle United.

Image result for Newcastle 2 Wigan 1

While winger Ritchie was grabbing the winning goal over Wigan Athletic to move the Magpies a step closer to an immediate Premier League return on Saturday afternoon, the Brewers were hitting Huddersfield with a 96th-minute sucker-punch.

Jackson Irvine was on hand to take his tally for the season to double figures, rolling home Marvin Sordell's square pass to dent the Terriers' automatic promotion hopes and nudging Albion four points clear of the drop zone in the process. It was a superb away performance from Nigel Clough's men, whose 4-1 defeat at Brighton & Hove Albion in February is their only loss on the road since January 21.

The result added Huddersfield to the top-10 scalps of Sheffield Wednesday, Norwich City and Derby County that the Brewers have taken so far this term.

Matt Ritchie grabbed Newcastle's winner against Wigan Athletic on Saturday

And Ritchie is well aware of the problems Albion can pose as they look to add the Championship title favourites to that list.

"For sure they can win anywhere," said the former Bournemouth man. "You've seen throughout the season that anyone can beat anyone in this league - and you've got to be aware of all of the teams' threats.

"Burton certainly have threats. They've shown by beating Huddersfield that they can beat top teams."

The Magpies will, of course, not be lacking in confidence given their position at the Championship summit after 39 games.

That is where Ritchie wants his side to stay until the end of the campaign, without getting too distraced by the likes of Brighton and Huddersfield in the push for automatic promotion.

"At the end of the day, we just need to continue concentrating on us," he added.

"We're the most important thing - we're top of the league, we're leading others and teams need to fear us. We need to be confident we can continue with the work we've done so far and finish the job off."