A Lincoln victory which was so special for Portsmouth defender Sean Raggett

The defender was a winner on his return to Sincil Bank last night as Pompey chalked up a 2-0 win against the side he made a big impact with during an 18-month stay.

Raggett helped the Imps to promotion to League Two and an epic run to the quarter-finals of the FA Cup, scoring the winner against Premier League Burnley along the way.

The 26-year-old has a strong affinity with the club, making his return an occasion he savoured.

Raggett said: ‘I’ve got nothing but love and respect for Lincoln Football Club, the people who work here and the fans.

‘I had a great time here so it was nice to come back and see some faces.

‘I really had a great time here and I see the crowd are as noisy as they always are.

‘They always make a lot of noise and were excellent, but so were our fans.

‘It was really good to be here and I enjoyed it.

‘A lot of the players have left but there’s still a few players around and lot of the staff are still here.

‘They all looked after me well here so it was good to catch up and of course get the win.’

The manner of both Raggett’s and Pompey’s performance against Lincoln was one which caused satisfaction for the defender.

Out of a first half which was very low on chances, the visitors put a stranglehold on the game after Ronan Curtis’ stoppage-time free-kick in the first half.

Raggett added: ‘We were going up the hill the first half and there was a bit of wind.

‘So we had to grind it out a little bit and I think we’re getting good at doing that.

‘We knew if we could go in at 0-0 half-time we could come out and swamp them in the second half.

‘That’s what we’ve done a fair few times to teams this season.

‘But Ronan got the goal before half-time and that made things a little bit easier for us.

‘It was a great time to score but in the second half we came out and played well. It was a good away win.’