Portsmouth boss lauds defensive resolve in Coventry victory

A piece of Ronan Curtis magic deep into first-half injury time settled matters at the Sky Blues.

It was a moment that impressed the manager, who saw his side stretch their lead at the top of the League One table to three points.

But not as much as the defensive resilience displayed by his side, who recorded a first clean sheet in six games.

'We defended very, very well, limiting Coventry to a minimal amount of chances,' said Jackett.

'I can think of one in the first half where there was a mix-up with the centre-backs and Craig MacGillivray made an excellent stop from Clarke-Harris.

'˜Ben Close had a real good chance in the first five minutes and should have scored and then a real moment of quality, I felt from Ronan Curtis, that won us the game.

'Although they had some possession and pressure, I can't remember a chance for them in the second half, while we had two really good chances with Ben Thompson's strike and then just at the end Jamal Lowe's left-footer.

'It is part of it '“ clean sheets.

'It's a big part of successful teams.

'You look at the very top and it's undervalued at times, but for us, we feel it gives us a basis to work off and we can keep it at zeros and ones.

'That's always our aim.

'You do need, obviously, more to be a good team, but it's the basis for what we can do and we think with the players we have it's a basis we can work with and keep us competitive.'