GALLERY: Boss: James not to blame
Paul Hart refused to blame David James for defeat at Blackburn.
James came in for some criticism for the Rovers opener in the 2-0 loss at Ewood Park on Saturday.
The England man failed to deal with the danger as he clashed with Christopher Samba, allowing Norwegian international Morten Gamst Pedersen to score.
Samba beat James to the ball with an outstretched boot and the ball ricocheted out to the unmarked Pedersen who opened the scoring.
Pompey thought Samba had fouled James in the build-up to the goal, but ref Mike Riley ignored those appeals.
James was accused of not doing enough to handle the situation as he attempted to nick the ball away from the Congo man.
Hart wasn't being too harsh on James though, who he praised for his form during his time in charge of Pompey.
He said: 'These things happen.
'If you look at his performances since I've been in charge he has been unbelievable.
'It was a challenge which made him jump in a forward fashion.
'I'm not being too hard on him.'
Although unhappy with what he saw from his Pompey side at Blackburn, Hart did praise the performances of Sol Campbell and Sylvain Distin.
He thought they did enough to repel Rovers, but were let down by mistakes from others.
The duo had to cope with the ungainly, but hugely effective, Samba.
And while the Congo international did enjoy an influential afternoon, the Pompey centre-backs both put a shift in.
Pompey did look a more potent threat when Hart went for broke and threw on Kanu, John Utaka and Jermaine Pennant.
But he stated he had no regrets about not starting with the trio.
Hart said: 'If you look at Blackburn they are a difficult side to deal with, but I thought our centre halves coped with them magnificently.
'They didn't cut through us, so it would be churlish of me to say I regret playing that way because we have been red hot for the last couple of months.'
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Weather for Portsmouth
Thursday 24 May 2012
Today
Sunny spells
Temperature: 15 C to 23 C
Wind Speed: 8 mph
Wind direction: East
Tomorrow
Sunny
Temperature: 13 C to 24 C
Wind Speed: 24 mph
Wind direction: East
