Kenny Jackett: New Portsmouth pitch can boost footballing quality

The installation of a new semi-artificial playing surface is presently taking pace at the Blues’ home.

It’s a decision Jackett is convinced can benefit his side during next season’s promotion ambition.

Pompey were the fourth-highest scorers at home in League One last season, winning 12 of their 23 league Fratton Park fixtures.

And the Blues’ boss welcomes pitch changes he regards as aiding aspirations of reaching the Championship.

He said: ‘If you’ve got a poor pitch you see a poor game, that just happens. It’s okay for some clubs, but it’s not okay for the big clubs.

‘If your games at home are poor it has an effect on the atmosphere, so a good pitch is absolutely essential.

‘It leads to better games, more free-flowing matches, maybe it goes end-to-end quicker and it’s more exciting, generating increased atmosphere.

‘It doesn’t matter not having a home pre-season game as a result. We would always like one, but work is needed so we just have to prioritise.

‘Ours needs a degree of maintenance. Through the winter sometimes it’s touch and go, you have to protect it during that period.

‘I think the judgment of a pitch is how it gets on from November to March, not the start and end of a season.

‘We want to back the experts, that’s what we employ them for, and if they say they need this amount of time to get it to this level then financially and time-wise we need to back them.’