All change for Portsmouth, but impressive winning streak remains unaltered

Kenny Jackett implemented a squad rotation, yet the only thing which didn’t change was the winning result.
Watch more of our videos on Shots! 
and live on Freeview channel 276
Visit Shots! now

Just Anton Walkes and Marcus Harness retained their places from the side which started against Altrincham on Saturday, with nine alterations.

Instead for tonight’s Leasing.com Trophy fixture with Northampton, there were rare outings for Andy Cannon, Paul Downing, Leon Maloney, James Bolton and Alex Bass.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

In addition, Ross McCrorie made his injury comeback, while Brett Pitman, who netted the winner in the weekend 2-1 victory over the non-leaguers, was handed a start.

Kenny Jackett's Pompey side have progressed into the third round of the Leasing.com Trophy following victory over Northampton. Picture: Sean RyanKenny Jackett's Pompey side have progressed into the third round of the Leasing.com Trophy following victory over Northampton. Picture: Sean Ryan
Kenny Jackett's Pompey side have progressed into the third round of the Leasing.com Trophy following victory over Northampton. Picture: Sean Ryan

The outcome was a 2-1 triumph through goals from Maloney and Harness – and a sixth-straight victory for this in-form team.

Jackett said: ‘We can’t say the Leasing.com Trophy is necessarily a priority, all of our focus now is on Saturday’s game against Peterborough, we have some really big games coming up in the league.

‘And winning is a good habit to get into for the group of players,

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

‘We flipped it against Northampton, the guys that have been playing were supporting the ones that haven't and if you can get a true squad and a true team spirit, that’s very, very important.

‘The first 20 minutes belonged to Northampton, they got their lead and deserved it, but after that we clawed our way back into the game, grew, and by half-time deserved to be level.

‘The second half was quite a dominant performance and we could have had some more goals, the keeper pulled off some great saves to be fair, against both Pitman and Marquis.’

Jackett will now revert back to his first-choice side for Saturdays crunch game with third-placed Peterborough.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

But he was delighted with the attitude demonstrated by those who came in against the Cobblers.

He added: ‘We showed a good commitment and good attitude after quite a rusty start really, with some people a little bit nervous.

‘But, similarly, when you get a crowd of 2,413 in a competition like this, there is an importance on it and you want to win, you want to win at home, you want to win as a group.

‘Hopefully that will help us towards Saturday and build up that winning habit.’

Comment Guidelines

National World encourages reader discussion on our stories. User feedback, insights and back-and-forth exchanges add a rich layer of context to reporting. Please review our Community Guidelines before commenting.