Kenny Jackett: Portsmouth players performed well against Coventry despite bleak low

The Pompey boss admitted the 3-3 draw with Mark Robins’ side in August was a low ebb in the season on a bleak night at Fratton Park.

But Jackett believes the anger at the result made the performance feel worse than it was.

His side capitulated to the nine-man Sky Blues, as they gave up a 3-1 lead on a night when fans turned against their manager.

The mood couldn’t be more different as the two sides prepare to meet again at St Andrews tomorrow night with Pompey in flying form in 2020.

Jackett admitted it was a game to forget, but he feels the fury of fans has distorted a performance which was a strong one, before the collapse took place in the final 15 minutes.

He said: ‘It finished up a low evening.

‘If you look at the game, we got ourselves into a great position and we deserved it.

‘I thought it was a good game and two good sides early on

‘We conspired to go from 3-1 to 3-3 with the red cards in there.

‘There was a lot of good performances that day and we weren’t far off it.

‘But we got a period of the game wrong from 3-1 up through to 95 or 96 minutes and we needed to improve that.

‘That was where it was though, but it felt a lot worse than that because of the reaction.

‘In terms of what happened on the pitch, though, that was what happened.’

The late draw against Coventry was one of a number of games this season in which Pompey have dropped points from decent positions.

The home clash with Oxford and trips to Wycombe, AFC Wimbledon and Bristol Rovers were other disappointing occasions.

But Jackett feels the work has been put in to remedy that worrying pattern.

He added: ‘When it starts happening you can overthink it and confidence is a part of it.

‘You need to defend but also, as they’re throwing people forward, have a break as well.

‘You need to be able to press the ball and not sit in too much.

‘Who goes to press the ball? Who stays back? There’s some organisation for it, some mentality for it and we need to capitalise on what we were doing right and adjust because we needed to improve.

‘As long as there’s an accurate assessment you can keep working on it.’