Pompey praised after thumping friendly win

Mark Kelly praised his youthful Pompey XI after they closed their pre-season campaign with a thumping Nyewood Lane victory.

The Blues last night ran out 5-1 winners over Bognor, through an Adam May hat-trick and goals from Leon Maloney and Dan Smith.

The scoreline had been 1-1 on 32 minutes but the visitors surged ahead in style to claim a comfortable outcome over Jack Pearce's non-leaguers.

May, Christian Burgess, Gareth Evans and Luke McGee provided first-team experience within the Pompey XI's youthful line-up.

And following wins over Moneyfields and Gosport, last night marked a triple success.

Academy chief Kelly said: '˜At the end the attention to detail was good, there was some good quality, we opened up the pitch and we opened up the play.

'˜There was a little period in the first half we were unhappy with. I didn't think we got to grips with our shape a little bit and the two forwards were chasing about when they didn't need to.

'˜They just needed to be a bit more patient and shut off that holding midfielder.

'˜When we got those little bits right our attention to detail was better across the park and we actually came up with some good play. It was pleasing to see.

'˜To be fair, Bognor had one or two break outs and might have nicked a goal but we could have had another two or three on top.

'˜It was a fair reflection of the quality the lads started to deliver in the second half. We got used to the shape, sorted out their shape problem and scored goals.'