The Terriers won the game of a Conor Coady goal in the second half. The forward player scoring from a cross-cum-shot which sailed over a helpless Scott Carson in the Wigan goal.
Speaking of the goal and his tea's win, Powell said: "It was a cross-shot and sometimes that's what happens - they go right into the top corner. It was a very welcome finish, a very welcome clean sheet and a very welcome three points.
"It's been a long time coming. We've been close, but not quite close enough. You just need those those away points, whether it's three or just one, to help the home form.
"We just wanted to make sure we took something today because, with Brighton winning in midweek, we didn't want Wigan to reduce the gap. We wanted to widen it, and we managed to do that.
"We knew they were away at Ipswich next week and they would have been looking at this game as a real important game to try and take something from.
"We were maybe lucky with the goal, but I felt we gave ourselves a platform to get something from the game with the way we performed throughout."
The result lifted Huddersfield up the table into fifteenth place, thirteen points ahead of the Latics.