Kenny Jackett: Portsmouth defensive vulnerability a concern in absence of Christian Burgess

The central defender last night watched from the Fratton Park stands as he served the second of his two-match ban.

He witnessed the Blues share a 2-2 draw with promotion rivals Fleetwood to lift themselves into fourth place in League One.

It was another performance from Pompey to concern, with Jackett pointing the finger at his team defensively.

Pompey’s boss had recalled Ross McCrorie and switched James Bolton to centre-half, with Jack Whatmough left out of the 18-man squad entirely.

However, Jackett was disappointed with his team’s overall defensive display.

He said: ‘Christian has played well this season for us, so you are always going to miss him.

‘But it’s not just him, I felt in certain situations (against Fleetwood) we looked vulnerable when we didn’t need to and gave ourselves problems.

‘You get injuries and suspensions, everybody does, you have to cater for that and I wouldn’t necessarily put it down to the centre-halves, we were just a little open and a bit vulnerable.

‘I didn’t think we looked sound enough defensively as a team.

‘When you are looking at throw-ins in the other team’s half and we switch off a little at the end of the first-half when it’s 1-1.

‘Instead of locking it out, there was a soft pass which went square and we gave it away – and they have hit the post from the resulting free-kick.

‘It’s those details we’re just not valuing or quite getting right at the moment, it’s small things.

‘You get those details right and you can then build confidence and go forward.

In terms of attacking, Pompey were also lacking, despite two goals against Joey Barton’s men.

Sean Raggett and a Harry Souttar own goal were what they had to show in a game in which keeper Alex Cairns was barely tested.

Jackett added: ‘Perhaps we didn’t test their keeper enough, but our main thing was we were quite open and conceded two goals.

‘We went too open, too early, and you have to value that a little more to build us up constructively.’