Gaffer: Surreal experience but a deserved Pompey win

So have you warmed up yet?

Well, it is possibly the coldest I have ever been at a match, but the football warmed me up and made it all worthwhile!

My dad has been to more games than I have and reckons a win at Ipswich in the 1960s was played in similar conditions.

Saturday was freezing, though, with people queuing for pies at half-time looking like snowmen!

There was even some nutter in our end with no top on! While the police were doing a bit of a dance with some of our fans during the snow delay.

Admittedly, I have been to some cold games in the past, but it was so bad that you couldn’t keep still in your seat, you had to jump about to keep warm.

So how did Pompey play?

It was a very good game, an excellent performance from us and we were never really in trouble.

It just seemed as if everyone was in their right place and the team gelled as a result.

Everyone did their jobs in a very professional team performance.

They all played their part as a group.

It’s funny, such things a season can turn, and with that confidence and team spirit generated,

I wouldn’t be surprised if we now went on a little run.

What did you make of the discussions to call the game off?

At one point the blizzard was so bad that we couldn’t see the other end of the pitch. The terraces were already very slippy so there was also a health and safety issue there.

During the delay, Luke McGee began clearing the lines with his water bottle, then scraping the snow in the goal area away with his feet!

Then one of their groundsmen cleared the lines of one side of the penalty box and walked off without doing the other!

What I couldn’t understand was that when the ref stopped the game in sub-zero conditions and blowing a blizzard, why didn’t he take the players inside while they waited for the pitch to be sorted?

It was a surreal, bizarre experience.

Who was your man of the match?

Brett Pitman was the difference in a team which doesn’t score goals.

He is a natural finisher, who doesn’t do a great deal. However, in a team which does okay and gets a draw, he can change that into a victory.

The header for his first goal was incredible, he leapt early and was on his way down when he put that in!

Matt’s Pompey ratings...

Luke McGee – 8

Anton Walkes – 7

Jack Whatmough – 7

Matt Clarke – 7

Brandon Haunstrup – 8

Ben Close – 7

Dion Donohue - 8

Jamal Lowe – 8

Connor Ronan – 8

Kal Naismith – 7

Brett Pitman - 9