Norwich loanee Sean Raggett 'needs a chance' in order to prove Portsmouth worth

But the defender still has a long way to go in order to cement his spot at the heart of the Blues’ defence.

That’s the view of The News chief sports writer Neil Allen in the latest edition of Pompey Talk.

Norwich loanee Raggett was handed just a second League One appearance of the season in Pompey’s 1-0 win over Bolton on Saturday.

It represented the 25-year-old’s fifth outing since arriving in the summer – and first since the Blues beat Norwich under-21s in the Leasing.com Trophy earlier in the month.

Although admitting Raggett looked far from settled in the early exchanges against Bolton, Allen felt the centre-back grew into the game alongside Christian Burgess.

Jackett is still searching for a consistent partnership at the heart of his defence having used six different partnerships this term.

But Allen believes now is the time for the Norwich loan man to show what he can do in a Pompey shirt.

Speaking in the latest edition of Pompey Talk, Allen said: ‘He was a bit shaky at the start, no doubt about that.

‘But he grew into the game.

‘In the first few minutes he took out Tom Naylor going for a header, quite a way from the penalty area.

‘He bundled his head into one of the opposition players to give them a free-kick early on.

‘The ball deflected off him to put a striker through early on.

‘But he then grew into the game.

‘He's not great on the ball, we know that.

‘Kenny Jackett has previously said that he thinks Christian Burgess and Paul Downing need an aggressive header of the ball alongside them because they're a bit similar.

‘In that respect he's now thinking he can't play Burgess and Downing but he can play Raggett with one of those two.

‘That's his (Jackett's) thinking at the moment to put either Raggett alongside Burgess or Downing.

‘We'll see what happens, that was his second league game.

‘He's got a lot to do to show his worth, but he got a clean sheet.

‘Let's give the lad a chance.

‘He did grown into the game and looked better as it went on from an edgy start.

‘They'll need his height and power going somewhere like Doncaster next week.'