Pompey defender encouraged after York misery

Jed Wallace celebrates his equaliser with Joe Devera and Sonny Bradley. Picture: Joe Pepler

Sonny Bradley believes Pompey have learned valuable lessons from their York City horror show.

The Blues turned in their worst display of the season in the 4-2 defeat but have now hit back with two wins and a draw in their three subsequent games.

And the Blues centre-back reckons the team have made important progress.

Bradley said: ‘York was a horrible, horrible game to play in.

‘But even though it was a bad performance, I knew we were going to bounce back from that.

‘We could easily have gone under but we didn’t let that happen and I think that says a lot about us.

‘With the team we have and the ability we have in the team, there was no way we would stay at that level of performance.

‘It says a lot about the players that we have bounced back as well as we have done.

‘We’ve come away with a draw in this one.

‘We dropped a couple of points, so it’s not been perfect but it’s certainly an improvement and that’s the main thing.

‘It’s not quite a perfect week.

‘If we had been told at the start of the week that we would have had two wins and a draw, we would have taken it.

‘So we’re reasonably happy.’

Bradley also believed Pompey’s confidence remained unshaken, despite Yassin Moutaouakil’s howler.

He explained: ‘No matter how much you work in training, you can never train yourself for that situation.

‘It was an awkward one for him.

‘But until it happens, you can’t know how you deal with it.

‘He dealt with it in the wrong way and made a bad decision.

‘It cost us at the time but we came back into it.

‘After a mistake like that, it’s easier to get back into it than when the opponents score a good goal.

‘Before that, I didn’t think they really threatened or had any real chances.

‘We knew we could keep them out.

‘Even though it was a sloppy goal, we kept our heads up and kept going.’

And the former Hull City defender is now looking for Pompey to continue their momentum at Fratton Park when they host Bury next weekend.

He said: ‘I think we are turning that corner.

‘We’ve got two home games on the bounce so the target is six points from those.’

– STEVE WILSON