Gaffer: Time for Portsmouth to restore Gareth Evans at number 10 – and drop Brett Pitman

Gaffer for a Day, Matt Reeder, aged 45 from Harrogate, surveys Pompey’s Bank Holiday Monday clash with Coventry...
Gareth Evans of Portsmouth during the Sky Bet League One match between Burton Albion and Portsmouth at Pirelli Stadium on April 19th 2019 in Burton, England. (Photo by Daniel Chesterton/phcimages.com)Gareth Evans of Portsmouth during the Sky Bet League One match between Burton Albion and Portsmouth at Pirelli Stadium on April 19th 2019 in Burton, England. (Photo by Daniel Chesterton/phcimages.com)
Gareth Evans of Portsmouth during the Sky Bet League One match between Burton Albion and Portsmouth at Pirelli Stadium on April 19th 2019 in Burton, England. (Photo by Daniel Chesterton/phcimages.com)

I was at Burton and at some stage we were due some luck.

It was offside, handball and bang! The dream lives on.

At the Pirelli Stadium, I sat in the stand in line with Nathan Thompson and honestly thought it was handball. When it went in I didn’t celebrate as I thought the referee was going to blow up!

It’s great that bad luck during that run of games we didn’t win at the turn of the year has now turned – and at the right time of the season.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

Now it’s Coventry, and hopefully we can get off to a good start, grab an early goal to relieve tension and keep the momentum going.

The longer it goes on without a goal for us, it will become edgy and harder to get the win.

We lost our way a bit against Burton, who were the much better side going forward and dominant. We need to hit Coventry hard and hit them fast, like we did Bradford.

Certainly Ronan Curtis made a difference when he came on at Burton and I think he needs to start against Mark Robins’ team.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

That would leave a toss up between Brett Pitman and Gareth Evans for the number 10 role.

Evans makes a difference whenever he has been in the team, while I thought Pitman looked leggy at Burton. So I would choose Evans.

I really do think they are good enough to do this and earn promotion, although to win 10 games in a row is a massive feat.

Finally, Conor Chaplin will get a great reception and I wish him the absolute best for the future, but the move was right for him.

Pompey (4-2-3-1): MacGillivray, Thompson, Burgess, Clarke, Brown, Naylor, Close, Lowe, Evans, Curtis, Hawkins.

Comment Guidelines

National World encourages reader discussion on our stories. User feedback, insights and back-and-forth exchanges add a rich layer of context to reporting. Please review our Community Guidelines before commenting.