A win's a win and that's key for Pompey

Eoin Doyle caused the Accy defence a few headaches. Picture: Joe Pepler

Well, a win’s a win.

Definitely, we needed those three points.

Sometimes you have to win ugly and you could see that is precisely what we did to beat Accrington.

During the opening 20 minutes it looked like it was going to be a rout, then appeared we were satisfied with a 1-0 win and they were satisfied with a 1-0 defeat.

The irony is we actually played better at Wycombe and lost. The two really good opportunities we created on Saturday we put away.

No doubt about it, it was an important win.

Were you nervy as the game wore on?

I suppose if we had scored two in the first half it would have been an easier outcome.

Accrington never looked like scoring, David Forde had nothing to do and could have stayed in bed all day, while our centre halves gobbled up everything.

But there was always the chance a Stanley player could produce a worldie or a swinger to equalise!

Who impressed you?

Matt Clarke was my man of the match, he didn’t do a lot wrong.

It wasn’t just about scoring the opening goal, he also put in a couple of decent blocks towards the end.

As a central defensive partnership, Clarke and Christian Burgess are pretty strong and getting better all the time.

Clarke is only 20 and his development is a shame for Jack Whatmough. Clarke, though, has height and a bit more presence about him.

I was again impressed with Eoin Doyle’s movement, constantly moving their back four around despite not having too much influence.

What did you make of the reaction to Gary Roberts’ substitution?

It was a small section, but Roberts didn’t play badly, he worked hard.

We have a few idiots at the moment and it’s wrong.

I suppose it can be spun either way – that they were cheering Jamal Lowe was staying on or cheering Roberts coming off.

But it seemed a few were contributing to the latter.

I sit in South Stand A section and any criticism is not too bad from there, in fairness.

Ratings

David Forde 6

Gareth Evans 7

Christian Burgess 7

Matt Clarke 8

Enda Stevens 6

Michael Doyle 6

Amine Linganzi 6

Jamal Lowe 7

Gary Roberts 6

Kyle Bennett 6

Eoin Doyle 7