Gaffer: Inspirational Portsmouth sub was worth 10 out of 10, never put a foot wrong - and why we beat Cambridge United

Wait a minute, you’ve given a 10 rating?

Yes, for me Tom Lowery was a 10 out of 10 when he came on, he didn’t put a foot wrong.

Cambridge were parking the bus and it was frustrating, we needed somebody to unlock them, who could penetrate with the ball, and he played in that position very well when he came on.

He passed that ball for Owen Dale to cross for Colby Bishop to score the winner. We needed someone like that from the start. Without Lowery on the pitch, we wouldn’t have won.

He has been away for a while, come back into the squad and, for now, looks like he is up and running again.

And you gave Dane Scarlett your lowest mark.

He didn’t do anything, it didn’t look like he was comfortable out there on the left flank, more running the line instead of running forward.

Connor Ogilvie was looking for him to go forward, but he was going towards the line too much. I just don’t think he got himself into great positions.

Even in the second half, there was one counter break and he just messed it up, Scarlett wasn’t at the races unfortunately.

He doesn’t look the same player from earlier in the season, which is a shame because I thought there was potential. Perhaps he’s thinking “I won’t be here at the end of the season anyway, I’m going back to Spurs”?

So what are your thoughts on that win?

It was a smash and grab, Cambridge could have won it had they recruited a striker in the January window – they had four chances in the first half alone.

We were really poor in the opening 45 minutes. Even though it was just one change with Scarlett coming in for Ronan Curtis, it looked like the players hadn’t played together for weeks.

Cambridge could have got something out of the game – and I wouldn’t have begrudged on the basis of that first half.

Overall, a draw would have been an okay result for us on that performance, but thankfully it was a win. Since John Mousinho has come in, he has steadied the ship a bit.

What do you make of the Curtis injury news?

It’s absolutely terrible that he's done his ACL. He’d just got into a position where he had come back into the side and was looking like the Curtis of old, with fire in his belly and up for it.

It’s going to take a while to get him back, it doesn’t take a few weeks to recover from an ACL, which brings up the difficult situation of his contract.

Do we renew anyway? It hasn’t come at a good time for Ronan and he has been a loyal servant, we can’t ever say thank you enough for that, but it’s a business-driven game.

You can help with rehabilitation, but someone might come in and say “Okay we’ll take him off you”.

Matt Macey – 7

Joe Rafferty – 8

Sean Raggett – 7

Ryley Towler – 9

Connor Ogilvie – 7

Joe Morrell – 8

Ryan Tunnicliffe – 8

Owen Dale – 7

Michael Jacobs – 7 (Tom Lowery – 10)

Dane Scarlett – 6

Colby Bishop – 7