I have to say, I really didn't fancy it tonight. Two and half thousand noisy Portsmouth fans, live on Sky, one upfront, their decent start, our stuttering form and I could see us slipping to a two-nil defeat.
Well, what a pleasant surprise. We started well and took the ball to them. Blackett-Taylor on the left and Rak-Sakyi on the right. Fraser and Dobson keeping the kettle boiling and our back four solid enough. Jayden Stockley posed no serious threat but with Ryan Inniss ghosting in to monster Michael Morrison and dunk a header in from six yards, he wasn't needed. Before the half was up, Kirk picked up an intercepted ball and ran through the middle. Two of the three covering defenders went with Stockley which left Blackett-Taylor in space on the left and a perfect through ball from Kirk released him to run in on goal. He took one touch and then another before poking a shot below the charging keeper and into the goal for two-nil. The visiting supporters had already been quietened but this shut them up.
The annoying Sky commentary team were clearly all routing for Pompey and we had to suffer the over-focus on a penalty appeal when O'Connell took a handful of shirt but from a player who was in an offside position. The bias continued but when O'Connell ran in unopposed to repeat Inniss' first-half feat, it was game over for Pompey. In between times Rak-Sakyi had seen an effort beaten out and the Portsmouth keeper did brilliantly to get a hand to a Blackett-Taylor pile-driver after he had woven his way into the box.
In the end Portsmouth were lucky to only concede four and I felt sorry for them in the end looking at three ex-Charlton players on their bench who never made it here - Piggott, Minghi and Hackett-Fairchild. They really weren't very good.
The win lifts us to tenth and despite the game in hand over a number of sides, we are somehow only two points off sixth. I genuinely don't believe we are better than mid-table but we have arrived here from nowhere and suddenly there might be a bit of belief amongst the team. It will be a welcome relief for Ben Garner and goes someway to removing any serious concerns about a relegation battle. We remain unbeaten at home (W4, D3) and that form should secure our season.
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