Joe Gallen: A tough assignment - but Portsmouth deserved to beat Scunthorpe to reach Leasing.com Trophy semi-finals

The Blues reached the semi-finals of the Leasing.com Trophy following a hard-earned 2-1 success over Scunthorpe.

Cameron McGeehan’s 66th-minute strike, his first for the club, proved to be the match-winner, although Kenny Jackett’s men laboured, particularly during the second half.

John Marquis’ fourth goal in five matches arrived early on and suggested Pompey would ease their way into the next round.

Yet Scunthorpe rallied after the break, forcing Jackett’s troops to drop deep and penning them into their own half.

Then Abo Eisa scored with a stunning strike on 62 minutes to level.

But, four minutes later, McGeehan netted against the run of play and it’s the League One side which progress into Saturday night’s draw.

Assistant boss Gallen said: ‘We didn’t underestimate Scunthorpe, especially when we saw the team sheet coming in.

‘We expected them to put out a really good side and there were a lot of familiar names in their team that have played League One and higher.

‘I thought it was a tough assignment for us to win, so we are really pleased to get through and excited to be playing in the semi-finals once they come around.

‘We came out very well and had the first half and got 1-0 up, we were in a lot of good positions in terms of getting the second goal and didn’t quite turn them into chances.

‘At the start of the second half I did think Scunthorpe came out and played pretty well and we couldn’t get out of our half.

‘While there weren’t lots of shots on our goal, it did look like they were in the ascendancy.

‘They equalised and, I am glad to say, just after that we stepped it up and I thought overall then deserved to win.’

Once McGeehan levelled, Pompey had other opportunities to put the game out of Scunthorpe’s reach.

In the end, those spurned chances created a needlessly close Fratton Park finish.

Gallen added: ‘We created a few chances after they levelled and I thought Marquis could have got a third for us.

‘It was very close, very tight, but on chances and clear-cut chances, yes we deserved it.’