Gaffer: I wouldn’t start Brett Pitman for Portsmouth, despite Charlton cameo

What did you make of that performance?

Pompey didn’t deserve anything, Charlton were by far the better team.

As in all close games, there could be the opportunity to nick a point. We may even have grabbed a cheeky equaliser like we did from our first corner of the game on the stroke of half time.

But Charlton were one of the best teams we’ve played against this season. That display joins Luton’s first half in January in sticking in my mind.

Charlton’s movement was excellent, especially Jonny Williams and Joe Aribo in the first half. Within the diamond, players swapped positions regularly and it was really difficult to deal with.

So where do you see Pompey finishing?

In a title race you are usually hoping for one team to slip up, but on this occasion it’s three.

Kenny Jackett talks about eight or nine wins needed, but even then that may not be enough. Besides, we have some quite hard away games remaining.

I still see us finishing fourth or fifth this season.

I didn’t take too many positives out of how we finished the Charlton game either. We simply pushed our full-backs on, Charlton dropped back and Pitman went deep for the ball so it wasn’t even two up front.

What did you make of Pitman’s cameo?

Pitman is a unique footballer, a great finisher, but doesn’t have much to his all-round game as striker.

Others such as Omar Bogle, Oli Hawkins and James Vaughan have more, many more elements they can bring to the team.

Pitman might have his uses and he could well score three goals in three appearances before the end of the season, but not in the starting XI.

He didn’t look sharp at Charlton, although put in one really good ball which provided a good chance for a right-footed player’s left foot.

But I wouldn’t like to see Pitman start any games.

Who was your man of the match?

Ronan Curtis for sure, although I thought Christian Burgess played well also, he had a lot to deal with in the first half with players running from midfield.

When we did get the ball, Curtis was the one player who demonstrated courage, trying to get us further up the pitch.

Too much of our time was spent stuck in our own half, we need to push up and try to win free-kicks and spend periods in the opposition’s part of the pitch.

The Irishman often shows that desire, especially in away games, he doesn’t get subdued by the situation and is a very determined lad.

Craig MacGillivray 6

Nathan Thompson 5

Christian Burgess 7

Matt Clarke 6

Lee Brown 6

Tom Naylor 6

Ben Close 5

Jamal Lowe 6

Gareth Evans 6

Ronan Curtis 7

Oli Hawkins 6