Martin Paterson felt the nerves during the end of Burton’s 3-2 win over Reading which kept their League One survival hopes alive.
Mason Bennett and Mustapha Carayol put Albion 2-0 ahead inside 11 minutes before Lewis Wing halved the deficit for Reading.
Bobby Kamwa ensured Burton entered half-time 3-1 up, with Sam Smith’s penalty on the hour mark setting up a nervy finish that the hosts survived.
Burton’s first home win in nine attempts left them five points clear of Cheltenham, who occupy the final relegation place and have a game in hand.
“First half we were good,” Paterson said.
“I knew how I wanted to address this game at home with two wingers and change to a 4-3-3 in possession and I like it, it suited us.
“We made life hard for ourselves defensively, in moments and in our decision making and I honestly think it was down to nerves because it was such a big game. The players knew that we needed points on the board.
“We looked good in the first part of the game but then second half I had to look at the position we were in and not necessarily what I wanted to do, or how I would like to play.
“I changed shape out of necessity to see out the game. It was nerve-racking at the end if I am being completely honest.”
Carayol and Kamwa have been mainly used as substitutes, but Paterson was delighted with the impact his two wingers had.
“Muzzy was fantastic today,” he enthused.
“I was nervous for him today carrying a knock and Bobby Kamwa was good for us too and just needs that match fitness.”
With Reading already safe at the end of a tumultuous season, Ruben Selles was left frustrated by a poor opening to the game that ultimately cost his team anything from the game.
“It was a poor first half from us,” he admitted.
“The opponent hit us with some direct balls, and we had a couple of mistakes when we conceded the first two goals
“When we score at 2-1, we thought it could give us some energy for the game and some momentum back and then the third goal was a disappointing moment for us.
“I think in the second half we came out to win the game. We scored the second one and then we kept them in the box, but they managed to keep the score and it was disappointing to not get anything more.
“We knew it was going to be a tough game with them battling to survive and they did their job. We had a couple of moments of losing our application and conceding goals.”
'I will keep fighting' - Ten Hag adamant he is the right manager for Man Utd
Erik ten Hag insists that he is the right man for the job at Manchester United despite their 4-0 thrashing at the hands of Crystal Palace on Monday.
Michael Olise netted twice against a sorry United team at Selhurst Park, with Jean-Philippe Mateta and Tyrick Mitchell also getting on the scoresheet.
It is the first time that Palace have done the double over the Red Devils in the Premier League, as United extended their winless run on the road to five games.
There has been a lot of speculation over Ten Hag’s future following a disappointing second campaign in charge, with just one year left on his contract.
Asked if he was the right manager for United, he told Sky Sports: "Absolutely. If the right players are there and available, we have a good squad, but are missing the whole backline – we had problems.
"I will keep fighting. I prepared the team in the best way I could do. It was not good enough, by far – I have to take responsibility for that. But I will find energy and prepare them for Sunday’s game.
"At the end of the day, I have to do it with the players who are available. All season, we have huge [injury] problems. Many times we have sorted it out. Today we didn’t."
United have struggled with injury problems all season, with Harry Maguire and club captain Bruno Fernandes joining the lengthy list of players missing against Palace.
Ten Hag highlighted the lack of defensive options at his disposal but did not make excuses for the poor performance, adding: "It’s clear and obvious – this is underperforming. It’s not good enough. We are very disappointed in this. Our fans were behind us all the way – we should have kept fighting like the fans did.
"There are always reasons. Everyone sees our backline, we have huge problems, but at the end of the day we have to deal with it – we should have done better than we did.
"We know [how damaging it could be], but we have nine points to play, so we have to fight for the nine points."
Man Utd thrashing a 'big statement' but Palace are not surprised, says Eze
Eberechi Eze says Crystal Palace's 4-0 thrashing of Manchester United is a "big statement" but insists there should be little surprise that it happened.
Micheal Olise scored twice as Palace ran riot against the sorry Red Devils at Selhurst Park on Monday.
Jean-Philippe Mateta and Tyrick Mitchell also got in on the act as Palace sealed their first league double over United.
Palace have now won four of their last five Premier League games, with Oliver Glasner having turned the tide in the past few weeks.
Speaking to Sky Sports, Eze said: "It says a lot, it's a big statement, but we're not surprised.
"We know what we're capable of, we know what we can do. The quality we've got in the dressing room is high – we don't see it as a surprise. We know what we came here to do today, it worked.
"You can see we’re creating chances, we're not worried about what's going on behind us. We're attacking, pressing, we're aggressive – we're going to continue to create chances for sure."
Also speaking to Sky Sports, Glasner said: "Congratulations to the team. I think in the first half, we didn't play as well as we could, but we were very efficient and scored very nice goals.
"At half-time, we made some adaptations, and the second half was much better. We created a lot of chances, scored some nice goals, and it's a great win.
"We know we have quality when we get our players in situations to score a goal.
"Good players, a good team spirit, but we must always stay humble. It's not so long ago we were struggling [in a relegation battle]. We are doing well, but we have a lot to improve."
This was Palace's biggest Premier League win since beating Leeds United 5-1 in April 2023, while it also marked their biggest on home soil in the competition since a 5-0 victory over Leicester City in April 2018.
Udinese 1-1 Napoli: Struggling Bianconeri grab last-gasp home draw
Napoli were held to a 1-1 draw at relegation-battling Udinese in Serie A on Monday after a stoppage-time goal by forward Isaac Success cancelled out a Victor Osimhen header.
Osimhen nodded home to give Napoli the lead in the 51st minute after Matteo Politano sent a lofted cross from the right into the middle of the box, and the Nigerian striker headed the ball in off the left post.
The Nigerian thought he doubled their advantage in the 80th minute, but his effort was ruled out for offside, before Success bundled in the leveller in stoppage time, netting from a Thomas Kristensen header.
Napoli moved up to eighth on 51 points from 35 games and are nine points behind both fifth-placed Atalanta and Roma, in sixth.
Data Debrief:
Osimhen is the third Napoli player to score in six matches in a row against a single team in Serie A in the three-points-for-a-win era, after Gonzalo Higuain against Lazio between 2013 and 2016 and Dries Mertens against Bologna between 2016 and 2019.
Despite fighting back to earn a point, Udinese have now failed to win three games under a new manager for the first time since August-September 2010 under Francesco Guidolin.
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