Kenny Jackett: Third-placed Portsmouth left it late to comfortably overcome Rochdale

The Blues are third in League One following tonight’s 3-0 triumph over Rochdale.

Yet they were unconvincing in parts, mainly a dreadful first half from both sides in the Fratton Park encounter.

Nonetheless, Ryan Williams’ opener on the stroke of half-time gave them the advantage – with goals in the final 12 minutes from Steve Seddon and Christian Burgess.

And Pompey’s boss was disappointed with aspects of his team’s performance until at last overcoming the visitors.

Jackett said: ‘It was only comfortable at the end, we had a lot of chances at that stage, which you always do as the home side.

‘I’m pleased to say we put them away.

‘It was quite a poor first half by our standards, I didn’t think we had enough spark and didn’t get any shots in, some of our crossing went too easily into the goalkeeper.

‘By the 40-minute mark I was a bit disappointed really.

‘A little bit of a flurry towards the end, obviously the goal, and then Andy Cannon had a good shot which I thought was in. They were the big chances and we took one of them.

‘We started the second half similarly and didn’t do enough, then we really had to defend.

‘When the second one went in we created more chances and deserved to win.’