Knight: Pompey must build on season's best

I'm sure we all enjoyed what was Pompey's best performance of the season so far on Saturday.
Gary Roberts and Curtis Main borh scored in the 3-0 win against Crawley Picture: Joe PeplerGary Roberts and Curtis Main borh scored in the 3-0 win against Crawley Picture: Joe Pepler
Gary Roberts and Curtis Main borh scored in the 3-0 win against Crawley Picture: Joe Pepler

Following an indifferent start, the League Two campaign now appears to be up and running. Certainly, that represented a massive step forward.

Every player deserves accolades for that 3-0 win, as do the manager and his coaches, who got it tactically spot on.

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Paul Cook’s formation has received a lot of scrutiny but, give him his due, it produced one of our finest displays for some time, which is very pleasing.

It wasn’t until April that Pompey won three successive league games last season. We’ve already achieved that at the start of September.

Basically, Crawley couldn’t live with our intensity and, as a result, suffered a torrid afternoon.

We went for the jugular and aimed for that early goal and it rattled the visitors, who attempted to play out from the back but were never allowed to.

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Sometimes the ball can be a little bit slow to get to our lone striker, but that wasn’t the case on Saturday and Curtis Main benefit from early balls into the box.

Pompey played the ball forward quicker, turned their full-backs early on and it made for some exciting football which lifted the crowd from the start.

There was energy on and off the pitch and Crawley just could not cope with that pressure, especially during the first half.

Of course, it is very difficult to maintain that high-tempo pressing game over 90 minutes, but we remained in control after the break without being as dangerous.

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I was also delighted to see us not give away any sloppy goals when the foot came off the gas a little. That was a very professional job.

Now it’s all about the next game and we know what animal Wycombe Wanderers are.

They are probably wasting time now in training as preparation for Saturday’s visit to Fratton Park!

No doubt they’ll also be warming up wasting time on the coach down to the south coast.

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That is how they are. They will probably be saying they have nothing and we have everything, the usual things, but what really matters is what happens this weekend.

Sometimes you have to dig in for an ugly 1-0 win and that is an outcome I definitely would accept against Wycombe.

We need to build on that excellent Crawley showing.