AFC Wimbledon 0 Pompey 1: Gaffer For A Day

Gary Roberts acknowledges the travelling Pompey fans. Picture: Joe Pepler

What did you make of that?

It was a bit flat in the first-half and plenty of hoof balls up the field but we got the win and deserved it.

You have to be able to grind out results like that at this stage of the season and the players got the job done, so all credit to them.

We saw something different in the players last night, they showed guts and character.

And the players who came in, like Kieron Freeman and Adam Barton, did really well to show there is a lot of depth to this squad.

Who was your man of the match?

I would give it to Michael Smith, just ahead of Gary Roberts.

Roberts would have got the honour if he had finished one of those two chances at the end, those misses could have cost us.

He still had a great game but Smith edges it for scoring the winner and his excellent work-rate.

Even in the final minutes the striker was getting into the corners to hold the ball up and didn’t stop working for the team.

So what was that Gary Roberts song about him being a ‘lower league Zidane’?

It was unbelievable, I don’t know where it came from!

Some fans around us said they had tried to get it started before but it hadn’t caught on – well it did last night!

At one point in the first-half it went on for 20 minutes and more and more people were joining in.

Even Roberts had a glance or two over to see what we were doing – and it sent everyone a bit more mad!

It was my highlight of the game.

Important momentum going into the play-off semi-finals then?

It is vital we do not end the season on a whimper, losing matches without a fight.

You need some sort of form going into them.

Besides, we need to finish as high as possible to get a more favourable draw in the semi-finals.

It’s about ending the season as a team, showing togetherness and it’s looking very positive right now.  Adam’s ratings: Paul Jones (Brian Murphy 6) 7; Kieron Freeman 5; Christian Burgess 7; Adam Barton 7; Enda Stevens 6; Michael Doyle 7; Danny Hollands 7; Gareth Evans 7; Gary Roberts 8; Kal Naismith 6; Michael Smith 8