Kenny Jackett defends Portsmouth defensive reliance in victory over MK Dons

Kenny Jackett has been impressed with contrasting aspects of the Blues’ play during the last two League One outings.

Saturday’s encounter MK Dons was a tough watch at times, particularly with the bottom club bossing possession with 71 per cent.

Nonetheless, Pompey secured a 2-1 triumph to follow up that eye-catching 4-2 demolition of Burton the previous weekend.

And while it lacked the creativity and entertainment of the Pirelli Stadium, Jackett took just as much gratification from a stubborn defensive showing in victory.

He told The News: ‘We do want to be able to go forward and attack and, at 2-1, want to impose ourselves on the game and go further.

‘It didn’t necessarily work that way.

‘If you can’t do that then you have to put on the type of defensive display that we did because we really did negate them to one chance in the second half.

‘We would have loved to have done more, of course, particularly 2-1 up, but it isn’t always that easy.

‘MK Dons’ performances have been better than their results and we did think it was a difficult game.

‘They had a lot of power in the boxes as well, particularly when Cameron Jerome came on, and we defended it very, very well.

‘We just couldn’t quite get to the ball first and, in terms of them being able to move up the pitch, it didn’t necessarily work out for us that way.’

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Despite leading 2-1 after Ellis Harrison’s penalty on 23 minutes, Pompey often found themselves second best.

Jackett even initiated a system change at half-time in an attempt to find a foothold back into the Fratton Park match.

That saw the side revert to a back three, with Rasmus Nicolaisen replacing Ronan Curtis.

Pompey’s boss added: ‘It’s okay to be a back five when you are defending, that’s an advantage of it.

‘But if you can get a bit of a foothold in the game and play higher, that’s even better.

‘We did feel that we could change, both in possession and out of possession, and be able to impose ourselves on the opposition.

‘From 2-1 up we defended fantastically and limited their chances, and that’s part of it.’

A message from the Editor, Mark Waldron

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