Gaffer: Barnsley was Portsmouth's best Football League first-half away performance over the last 20 years

Enjoy that?

A topsy-turvy game, but that was Pompey’s best first-half performance in an away Football League game for 20 years.

Not since the 2002-03 season in Division One under Harry Redknapp have we done that. It was exactly what they did to multiple opponents that campaign when winning the title and reaching the Premier League.

We blitzed them on our travels, I still remember the Millwall and Bradford thumpings. Then we did that to Barnsley in the first half on Tuesday night.

It should have been 4-0 after eight minutes, genuinely, that was not exaggerated. I sat with Barnsley fans and they said it should have been six or seven nil at half-time.

Then the second half happened!

Maybe subconsciously, when you are that far ahead, you do take your foot off the gas. Not knowingly even, you just start to be a bit more conservative and sit too far back.

The only barrier to promotion that I have seen this season is themselves and not playing on the front foot and being more decisive in the final third.

The first goal was terrible marking and defending, which is surprising as this is by far the best defence we’ve had since Matt Clarke played in 2018-19.

Conor Shaughnessy and Regan Poole have probably been the players of the season so far. Nobody was excited when Shaughnessy signed, it was ‘Who’s that guy, what a cheap signing, he’s not to the standard of Pompey’. But he’s a fantastic defender who wins everything in the air.

And top of League One for the first time in more than a year.

Pompey can beat anyone and finish in the top two, without a doubt. I am very optimistic.

They have the quality as well as the experience, but they need to be more direct and more on the front foot in the final third if they want to get into the top two.

That’s the difference between getting into the automatic promotion spots and being in sixth to eighth. In addition, I am still concerned by the lack of pace in attack.

Having said that, eight games into the season is too soon to determine who gets promoted, I’d say 15 games is a more realistic timeline.

But clearly a team which has not been defeated in the opening games is going to be up there.

Who was your man of the match?

Joe Morrell was the only consistent performer for the entire 90 minutes. It was the way he broke up the play all night, even when we were extremely poor in the second half.

In addition, for Connor Ogilvie’s goal, that was the best ball I have seen for quite a long time. Ogilvie is a good header of the ball and it was on a plate for him, he couldn’t really miss.

I actually wouldn’t have brought Morrell back into the team after suspension, I’m not a big fan of his – in particular when he and Pack are together in midfield.

They are not as offensive as I’d like to see, but at Barnsley they were dynamic and it allowed Alex Robertson to push on from where he played at Derby.

Will Norris – 6

Joe Rafferty – 8

Regan Poole – 7

Conor Shaughnessy – 7

Connor Ogilvie – 8

Marlon Pack – 8

Joe Morrell – 9

Paddy Lane – 8

Alex Robertson – 8

Gavin Whyte – 7

Colby Bishop – 9