Pompey 1-3 Gillingham: they said what?

Pompey's wait for a maiden home win of 2018 continues following today's 3-1 defeat at the hands of Gillingham.
Luke McGee was helpless to prevent Lee Martin's second goalLuke McGee was helpless to prevent Lee Martin's second goal
Luke McGee was helpless to prevent Lee Martin's second goal

Here's what those closest to the action had to say about the latest Blues performance.

Kenny Jackett

I felt it was a positive performance in the first half, we deserved the lead, had a lot of the play and one or two key chances to go further ahead.

Luke McGee was helpless to prevent Lee Martin's second goalLuke McGee was helpless to prevent Lee Martin's second goal
Luke McGee was helpless to prevent Lee Martin's second goal
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Gillingham were always going to come back at us and we didn’t sustain that period of pressure without conceding, which is something we have done for a little while.

We have lacked probably at times experience, leadership, talking and some direction at the back. Although when you are looking at their strikes, they are excellent and outside the box.

From our point of view, they were too many goals against for too long and that’s the frustration.

We always had to realise Gillingham were going to have a spell, everybody does, and you have to be good enough during that spell to sustain your lead.

Luke McGee was helpless to prevent Lee Martin's second goalLuke McGee was helpless to prevent Lee Martin's second goal
Luke McGee was helpless to prevent Lee Martin's second goal
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You have to battle it out and make sure they don’t get the goals to get back into the game.

Steve Lovell - via gillinghamfootballclub.com

We had a game plan and in the first half Tom Eaves battled really hard with their centre-halves and beat them up.

Tom gives us energy and he puts so much effort in and he had a big say in the win.

He did what he had to do, Conor (Wilkinson) came on and he was the difference for us. I thought we played some really good stuff.

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Lee Martin is a tremendous professional; he’s a leader and he inspires the team. He drives us on and there’s no substitute for experience.

Goals change games; the boys have worked hard, they’ve put in a shift today and they can play Football. They pass it well and they’re capable of beating anyone in this league.

It’s a great three points and a really good performance.

Great support again today; fantastic support.

Jack Whatmough

We started the game really well, controlled the first half but then didn’t come out in the second.

It’s disappointing for us as a team and me as an individual.

Winning means everything and losing hurts a lot.

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So it may be a comeback for me, but it’s not one I feel like celebrating after a defeat.

Neil Allen

Pompey undid their first-half excellence to produce a second-half display which yielded a 3-1 defeat.

Kenny Jackett's men were unquestionably worth more than their 1-0 half-time lead through Jamal Lowe's opener.

But it was a very different Blues after the break as Gillingham raised their game to smother the ineffective hosts.

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Boos rang at the final whistle with 2018 still to produce a Fratton Park win.

Jordan Cross

Pompey managed to snare defeat from the jaws of victory on another miserable day at Fratton Park.

Few people would have seen the loss coming at the break after as Kenny Jackett's side went in 1-0 up after a dominant 45 minutes.

The Blues were left to rue missed chances, though, as the Gills ripped up the script after the interval with three quality finishes.

Jackett's men will have to assess how their soft underbelly is proving their undoing, with their season beginning to peter out in exactly the manner the manager is trying to avoid.