Donohue highlights key to Pompey's success against Pirates

The Blues picked up their third shutout in 10 league games with a 3-0 win at Fratton Park last night.

And Donohue banished the memory of his mistake in Saturday’s 2-0 loss at Scunthorpe along the way.

Pompey showed another side to their game as they soaked up the pressure and put in a number of blocks and last-ditch tackles against the Pirates.

Donohue felt that character was key to victory.

He said: ‘We’ve shown that we can soak it up.

‘It’s good we’ve shown we can do that at times.

‘After Saturday, the Bristol Rovers game was all about trying to keep a clean sheet and we did that.

‘It was the way we did it, though, which was more impressive.

‘We were under the cosh for the first 30 minutes.

‘We showed we can soak it up knowing the quality we’ve got further down the pitch will get us through in the end.

‘You’ve got to put your body on the line as a back four – that’s your job.

‘We showed we’ve got people all over the pitch who are prepared to put their bodies on the line.

‘We were hungry and when we were winning the ball.

‘There were two or three players ratting one person at times.

‘We showed the character in the team and that we are behind each other.

‘We blew them away in the end. They just ran out of ideas because we soaked up all the pressure.’

After the win Donohue joked he was relieved for his partner, who’d also felt the low of Saturday’s loss at the Iron.

He said: ‘I do tend to put the missus through a bit of grief!

‘It was disappointing – especially the second goal.

‘She tends to stay away and know that’s the best thing to do if I say I had a bad game.

‘So to go home after a 3-0 win and being involved in the first goal means I went home a happy man this time.’

Donohue told of his nervous wait before celebrating the key first goal he set up for Oli Hawkins.

He said: ‘I looked at the lino and the flag has gone up.

‘I was a bit disappointed because I thought I’d lost an assist.

‘Then Matt Clarke came over and told me he’d given it.

‘The lino still had his flag up, so it wasn’t until the ref pointed to the half-way line the celebrations started.

‘It was pleasing to be involved in that goal.

– JORDAN CROSS