Gaffer: So good to see familiar faces among fans - and watch a complete Portsmouth performance against Peterborough

Enjoy being back at Fratton Park?

Firstly, the plaudits should go to the club. Everything was spot on, very safe, very secure, with stewards using coming sense.

Being among the fans, you don’t necessarily know how noisy you are, but by all accounts it was appreciated by the players and management. We tried to do our bit.

I was in North Stand Lower and it was great to see a few familiar faces among the supporters and that they had made it through the pandemic.

The Papa Bouba Diop tribute was lovely, the club do those sort of things really well. It’s so sad that a footballer I’ve watched has born and died in my lifetime. Horrible.

And what a display to be present for.

You could say it was the best display this season that I have seen live! But, in seriousness, some of our football was magnificent.

Peterborough lined up with a diamond, which we always have trouble against, but they had to keep passing it wide because we are closing down the space around them.

For me it was the complete team performance, hence so many 8s and 9s in my ratings. We should have been three or four up at the interval.

Peterborough had a lot of the ball, but all they seemed to do was move it sideways, tippy tappy football and not doing something with it.

Plenty of excellent performers to choose from there.

I know, but Andy Cannon gets my vote for man of the match.

He ran the game in the first half, although was a little quieter after the break when we played a little more on the counter attack.

It was his first touch, his control, some of those passes he made in that central role, particularly in the first half. We nearly bought Sammie Szmodics, but Saturday Cannon looked the better player.

Cannon has improved on last season. I’m still a Ben Close fan but after Peterborough you can see why it’s Cannon who gets in the side ahead of him.

What about the returning Nathan Thompson?

He must still be having nightmares about Ronan Curtis and Lee Brown, that rugby tackle on Curtis summed up his afternoon.

Thompson knew he couldn’t give the Irishman an extra yard, so instead had to be tough tight, but kept getting shown up.

I loved him to bits when he played for us, but we saw that Thompson flop a few times and some fouls, especially in the second half as he struggled with our left side.

He had to be substituted, he wouldn’t have lasted. And it was amusing hearing the banter from fans towards him about playing for a Championship club.

Craig MacGillivray - 6

Callum Johnson - 7

Jack Whatmough - 8

Sean Raggett - 8

Lee Brown - 8

Marcus Harness - 7

Tom Naylor - 9

Andy Cannon - 9

Ronan Curtis - 8

Ryan Williams - 8

John Marquis - 6

A message from the Editor, Mark Waldron

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