Gaffer for a day: Pompey 5 Barnet 1

That was the best performance I have since from Gary Roberts since he joined Pompey.

Everything came through him, he bossed the game, and I am not sure there are many better players in this division.

This season he is more involved, looks fitter than at any other time, is free from injury, while his goal was something special.

There were some excellent goals on Saturday, but that was the pick of the lot.

This is the playmaker we signed from Chesterfield and he is head and shoulders above everyone else in the team at present.

We need to keep him fit, only use him in league games and wrap him in cotton wool. Roberts is so important.

And the overall match?

This season there seems to be a lot more fight about Pompey – and they are more clever.

Look at the pass and movement for Danny Rose’s goal, the players trust themselves to play those balls.

In the first half we had a lot of the ball but operated as if Michael Smith or Curtis Main were up front when in fact Conor Chaplin had been named there.

Once we started to realise we could use the deck and bring in our wingers we controlled the game.

Perhaps it wasn’t a fair reflection on Barnet, but even when we fell behind I knew we would win that game. It was just a matter of time.

As a referee, how did you see Bira Dembele’s dismissal?

Taking into account the law changes which have come in for this season, a pull is a red card, not what Dembele did.

Teams should not incur a double punishment for a penalty and he should have received a yellow card as I couldn’t see a pull.

Their keeper went mad at the referee, but the match official saw it differently.

Not that it affected the outcome of the points, we were so on top at that stage and David Forde had nothing much to do apart from John Akinde’s penalty.

Promotion?

Definitely, 100 per cent. There will be blips like Accrington but we will win a lot of games.

Gaffer ratings:

David Forde 7

Gareth Evans 7

Christian Burgess 7

Tom Davies 6

Enda Stevens 8

Michael Doyle 7

Danny Rose 8

Carl Baker 8

Gary Roberts 9

Kal Naismith 7

Conor Chaplin 8