Marcus Harness salutes career-best goal contender in stunning Portsmouth hat-trick at Burton Albion

Marcus Harness’ Pirelli Stadium return was a memorable occasion – and a first league victory of the campaign for under-fire Pompey.

The 24-year-old netted a treble while on duty for Burton in a 4-0 win at Rochdale in January 2019.

This time the Brewers were on the receiving end of a hat-trick as Pompey triumphed 4-2 on Saturday.

Harness’ haul consisted of a first-time shot from the edge of the area, a backheel and, of course, that remarkable third goal.

Collecting a pass from Ronan Curtis, he backheeled the ball past John-Joe O’Toole before swivelling and clipping a shot over the advancing keeper.

A stunning finish in a sublime hat-trick.

Harness told The News: ‘As a kid, I scored quite a few hat-tricks, but I guess they only really matter on this stage - and that was the second of my career.

‘Of those on Saturday, the third goal was one of my better ones as a professional.

‘There wasn’t really much going through my mind, I thought I’d see what would happen and was playing with freedom.

‘It always helps when you have one or two goals already, you have a bit more confidence and things like that can happen.

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‘I’m glad I did, it’s one of my best.

‘I’m not really sure what happened with the second goal, I can’t really remember!

‘I recall it dropped in the box from the corner and I couldn’t find anybody to pass to, so I just thought I’d backheel it and see what happened. Then it ended up in the back of the net!

‘I was laughing. When you don’t expect it to go in and it does, it’s always nice.’

In addition to his treble, there was also a missed opportunity on the stroke of half-time.

It arrived when Ryan Williams’ cross from the right was pushed out by keeper Ben Garratt.

But Harness couldn’t quite capitalise from close range with the goal at his mercy.

He added: ‘I was about a yard ahead of it.

‘If I was a yard slower it might have hit me and just gone in, but the ball was past me before I could react.

‘Obviously being 2-1 down going into half-time was disappointing when I could have levelled it, but you forget about it and move onto the next one. You can’t do anything about it.’

A message from the Editor, Mark Waldron

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