Knight: A steely Pompey win '“ and I actually agreed with marks out of 10

 

Saturday's clash with Luton has created a landmark occasion - it's the first time I've agreed with Neil Allen's marks out of 10!

The chief sports writer got his ratings spot on for once following a dogged performance against the Hatters. Jack Whatmough got the thumbs-up from me for man of the match just in front of Matt Clarke, who had an excellent game.

I more or less agreed with his other ratings in a game where we defended fanastically well, but failed to as much as we'd have liked going forward.

Craig MacGillivray had a really good debut in goal and made some good saves.

The one which stood out to me was the second-half save to deny Harry Cornick,

Craig decided to stand up, whereas a lot of keepers these days try to go 'spider' in their attempts to keep the ball out of the net.

The save from the free-kick was eye-catching but I rated the one from Cornick over that one.

He dominated his area and cleared stuff up on the way to a clean sheet.

I'm sure he's more than happy with his start.

Nathan Thompson made some great interceptions and tackles, too, and summed up how everyone was committed to the cause.

I was little concerned with how we played defensively when lost to Stevenage in our pre-season friendly.

But it shows you how much the lads have clearly worked in a short spell to tighten things up.

Going forward, it was good to see Jamal Lowe back from his injury with a goal.

Then there was Ronan Curtis who was a standout player early on and was everywhere with his work-rate.

I think we all know we got over-ran a little bit in midfield at times and there's clearly stuff to work on. That's something we'll need to work on moving forward.

I'm sure we will play a lot better than that and get beaten this season, but a start with a win is a good start and that will help with everyone's confidence.

  I think Luton will be there or thereabouts this season, so it's a good basis to building belief.

 There's now a few days to get  additions and I'm sure things will be stepped up to fill the attacking areas Kenny believes need strengthening.   

Have you read?

Luton display shows need for attacking options