John Marquis heaps praise on ruthless Portsmouth in win over Lincoln

John Marquis celebrates his second goal at Lincoln. Picture: Daniel Chesterton/phcimages.com

The Blues continued their fantastic form on the road with a 3-1 success at the high-flying Imps.

Marquis kept up his purple patch with a double either side of half-time to take him to nine goals in all competitions.

Ronan Curtis was also on target at Sincil Bank, while Kenny Jackett’s side win could have been more but missed a number of decent opportunities.

One of those fell to Marquis for his hat-trick when he was unable to convert Ryan Williams’ cross, although Curtis’ goal arrived only moments later.

And the ex-Doncaster man saluted the way Pompey made their chances count.

Marquis told The News: ‘We felt like we were in control for most of the game. Scoring really helps and we were ruthless.

‘We took our good chances. There were a couple of half-chances but apart from that we were pretty ruthless when we've had the chances in the past few games.

‘It's a good habit to get into, taking your chances and putting games to bed as soon as we can.

‘I was slightly disappointed I couldn't get the third. The ball was fizzed across the bos and I couldn't get any contact on it. Luckily, we scored from that attack anyway.’

Pompey again tweaked their formation after last Saturday’s 2-0 loss to Charlton.

Jackett opted for a 4-4-1-1 system, with Williams just playing off Marquis.

Marquis felt the Blues got their tactics spot on as they stay seventh in the League One table.

He added: ‘We played as 4-4-1-1 where you can play two more out-and-out strikers.

‘Willo started there and did a great job. He worked so hard and has been like that for the past few games. I'm devastated he hasn't got a goal he deserved.

‘We knew Jorge Grant is a good player who sits in front of the back four for them. We needed to get around him and we did that well with Willo's energy.

‘We sat off a bit more than we have done lately but the back four kept their shape and gained a three-goal lead.

‘The game opened up a little bit more than we'd have liked but it was a great win.’