Close: Portsmouth were given scare by Shrewsbury
But the midfielder hailed the Blues’ defensive solidity following their victory at New Meadow.
Kenny Jackett’s troops moved up to third in League One with a 2-0 success against the Shrews.
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Hide AdClose and Brett Pitman were on target for the visitors either side of half-time.
However, relegation-threatened Shrewsbury dominated the opening half-hour and should have really made their pressure count.
Pompey keeper Craig MacGillivray making a superb save to deny Shaun Whalley, while Lee Brown made an excellent block to thwart Scott Golbourne’s effort.
Close saluted how the Blues remained resolute when under pressure – and how his side punished the Shrews at the other end.
He said: ‘We expected Shrewsbury to be good.
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Hide Ad‘They’re fighting for their lives, were on the front foot and gave us a bit of a shock and a bit of a scare.
‘But luckily we rode through it.
‘We defended well, came out the other side and then hurt them at the other end.
‘For us to come out with a win is pretty pleasing.’