Jackett: Pompey are too naive

KENNY JACKETT rued the naivety which cut down his team at Scunthorpe.
Duane Holmes scores Scunthorpe's second goal on Saturday following a mistake from Dion Donohue Picture: Joe PeplerDuane Holmes scores Scunthorpe's second goal on Saturday following a mistake from Dion Donohue Picture: Joe Pepler
Duane Holmes scores Scunthorpe's second goal on Saturday following a mistake from Dion Donohue Picture: Joe Pepler

Pompey were undone by individual mistakes which saw them fall to a 2-0 loss at Glanford Park.

Jackett pinpointed errors from Dion Donohue and a key missed header from Oliver Hawkins as the major factors in the reverse.

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That means it’s now 54 years since the Blues last won at the Iron.

Despite dominating possession, Jackett’s side never looked like pulling themselves level, after falling two goals down in 33 first-half minutes.

The manager had words of support for Donohue, but feels both he and his side need to learn from their errors.

Jackett said: ‘It’s naivety, a bit of naivety.

‘With the first one we’ve overcovered and then left ourselves wide open.

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‘Then it’s the header from the second goal which has cost us.

‘We’ve made two mistakes down the left-hand side which have cost us. It’s been a problem area for us this season.

‘Dion’s started his Pompey career pretty well.

‘In general, he’s been competitive and looks good enough to make a career here. He’s certainly got the character.

‘There’s a lot of traits he has that I like. His distribution is good, has a good left foot and is a good footballer.

‘He’ll learn from what’s happened and come back stronger.’

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The stats show the Blues had 59 per cent of play compared to Scunthorpe’s 41.

On top of that, they registered 13 shots to the home side’s eight – with twice as many corners at eight to four.

The reality, however, was Scunthorpe were rarely troubled by the visitors as they showed exactly why they’ve conceded just three league goals this season to date.

After narrowly missing out on automatic promotion last term and the League One play-offs in 2015-16, Graham Alexander’s side look set to be contenders again this term.

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Jackett acknowledged there was much Pompey could learn from their opponents.

He said: ‘We’re disappointed to lose.

‘Fair play to Scunthorpe. They got their noses in front and then made it very difficult for us to get back.

‘We had plenty of possession in the second half but couldn’t find a forward pass. We have to be able to take people out of the game.

‘By the end of the game they just had too much of a lock on it and made it very difficult for us to make chances.

‘They’re a ruthless team out of possession.

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‘They work hard and have the kind of work ethic out of possession which does bring success.

‘It’s something we have to learn from because it’s very, very difficult to score against.

‘Once we got in front they were happy for us to have the ball and we couldn’t break them down. We struggled to penetrate.

‘They ended up doing a job on us.’