Knight: A Pompey box ticked as we prepare for promotion rivals

Carl Baker in action for Pompey against Plymouth. Picutre: Joe Pepler

And it’s going to be necessary for the players and fans to do the same again going into Plymouth.

Bouncing back from the blow of the freak leveller at Fratton Park on Saturday was another big promotion box tick.

I thought we started really well at the start of the second half and created a couple of chances. But then they broke away and scored a bit of a lucky goal.

In the past, heads could have gone down and even a bit of fear could’ve crept in at that stage. Fair play, though, the lads stayed with it – and so did the fans who may have let frustration creep in at times in similar positions this season.

There was a confidence and belief we can focus on when things go against us.

At times you have to dig deep – the players did that.

Gary Roberts had one of his best games for a long while. He worked his socks off and chased a lost cause to win the penalty.

The Conor Chaplin substitution changed it, though, because Kal Naismith was freed up after playing that role up front.

It’s a thankless task that position and we’ve seen a few try to play there without success. You have to do a job for the team there.

Kal missed a decent chance and then told the crowd to calm down – and he did come good afterwards.

It’s nice to keep the run going and maintain the confidence. Hopefully, it bodes well going into a big game on Friday.

We have to forget about anything going on at the Plymouth end of things.

We have to concentrate on what we’re doing.

If you look at their success, Graham Carey is the one who stands out.

Their stats show they score a lot of goals late, too, and a lot of goals from set-pieces.

So we’ll have to be concentrated in that area, especially late on, as we’ve found to our cost before.

There is a bit of ill-feeling there. I don’t think you can hide from that fact.

I wasn’t overjoyed with some of the reaction to the last game up at their place.

You have to keep that in your mind and, maybe, what goes around comes around.

We have to stay focused, though, keep our composure and keep 11 players on the pitch to get the result.