Ellis Harrison lifts lid on Portsmouth penalty debate against Southend

The former Ipswich striker fired home his second goal of the game from the spot as the Blues ran out 4-1 winners against Sol Campbell’s side on Tuesday night.

But that was only after a discussion took place between Pompey’s leading scorer, John Marquis and Republic of Ireland international Ronan Curtis over who should take it.

Captain Tom Naylor eventually stepped in, telling Harrison, who’s now on seven goals for the season, he would be the one to step up from the penalty spot.

Although, the front man felt the incident was made out to be ‘worse than it was’.

The 25-year-old believes it came as a consequence of himself, Marquis and Curtis all displaying the confidence to take it.

Pompey assistant manager Joe Gallen has since pledged a specific taker will be in place in the matches to come.

But Harrison revealed should there be any ‘confusion’ over penalties in the future, Naylor will step in once again.

‘A lot of people thought it was worse than what it was,’ said Harrison.

‘Nayls said: “Els, you’re taking it”.

‘I took it, if I wasn’t confident I wouldn’t have taken it.

‘It wasn’t because I wanted to score another goal.

‘I took one in the shootout at Oxford and scored it, that’s why I felt confident.

‘I missed my last two before that.

‘If there’s any confusion, Tom is captain.

‘You can’t run to the manager at that point and be like “who’s taking it?”

‘If I didn’t feel confident but John or Ronan did, then they take it.

‘If they didn’t, then I would take it.’

Harrison said he would have no hesitation stepping up for a penalty again.

And he admitted his frustration after spurning a ‘bread and butter’ header to miss out on a hat-trick against Southend.

Harrison added: ‘Of course I would (step up to take another).

‘It’s a 1v1 against the goalkeeper, you could miss or you could score.

‘I lost more sleep over missing the header from Ronan’s cross.

‘That’s usually my bread and butter.

‘Messi, Ronaldo and Neymar’s miss penalties.

‘Just because I scored one (against Southend), who’s to know I might miss the next one.’