Gaffer: I applauded Altrincham at the final whistle, they deserved it for Portsmouth FA Cup display

So what did you think?

We were very below par, I was expecting a better performance, certainly after Tuesday against Rotherham.

I thought we would kick on and get a comfortable win, instead our approach was wrong, we took this game too lightly and couldn’t get out of second gear.

Altrincham played with no fear. Put yourself in their shoes, they were very unlucky and deserved a draw just as much as we didn't deserve to win.

That’s football, over the course of a season it evens itself out, look at the amount of late goals we’ve suffered this year. Saturday was just our turn.

What did you think of Altrincham?

I applauded them off from my seat in the Fratton end, they deserved that reception, it’s just unfortunate I wasn’t clapping my own team!

Non-league sides tend to tire towards the end, but not Altrincham, they are a very fit team and kept going right until the final whistle.

We didn’t take them seriously and our players are much better than that, we have proven it and proven it recently.

A draw would have been a fair result for the neutral, even at 1-1 Altrincham kept going and it could have gone either way.

Anyone stand out for you?

I wasn’t expected to name a defender as man of the match against a non-league side, but I’m going for Oli Hawkins.

He was the pick of a bad bunch on the day – or perhaps our team was so poor it made him better than he was!

Hawkins reproduced those performances we have seen from him of late, cleaning up well, reading the game, defending set-pieces and showing good distribution.

I also thought Ryan Williams did well when he came on, working very hard down the flanks and always making himself available.

Brett Pitman on the scoresheet once more too.

Yes, he did what he does best, but still didn’t play well.

Looking at our striking options, you cannot drop Ellis Harrison at the moment and while John Marquis had a bad game on Saturday he has still been playing well in the number 10 role.

It’s a case of Pitman coming on if required, like against Altrincham.

He can still play a part and we know he can score goals, there were six in his final 12 matches of last season, which Kenny Jackett should bear in mind.

Craig MacGillivray 7

Brandon Haunstrup 7

Oli Hawkins 8

Christian Burgess 5

Lee Brown 6

Ben Close 6

Anton Walkes 6

Marcus Harness 6

John Marquis 5 (Brett Pitman 6)

Ronan Curtis 5 (Ryan Williams 7)

Ellis Harrison