Gaffer For A Day: Portsmouth have worked transfer window miracles. There are good signs again
Gaffer For A Day, Will Short, aged 31 from Wandsworth, London, assesses Pompey’s 1-0 defeat at Preston...
What are your thoughts on the game?
There's not a lot between us and Preston. If Preston are challenging for the play-offs, I don’t see any reason why, if we actually got proper investment, we can’t do the same. That’s the level the division is at.
It was a bit like a home game, we had a lot of the ball, they had their chance and scored and we probably had 2-3 half-chances and didn’t score.
If we had walked away with a point we would have said fair enough, a win and we would have thought very lucky there - but lose and it’s a bit hard done-by.
I thought we were the better side, we had the ball and it was a siege at the end of the match. The fact we didn’t then go on and score, I’m gutted. On balance, though, we were the better side, but I’m probably looking at it with blue-tinted glasses on!
What did you make of Jacob Brown on his debut?
I thought he showed what we missed without having Colby Bishop! When they are both available, I think he can come on with a bit of pace around the back after Bishop has knocked the two centre-halves about.
Brown looks a very different player to Bishop, which is quite exciting because it does mean we have someone who, should it not be working with Bishop, can spin and go in his place.
I like the look of him, his goalcoring record at Stoke is good, he had a difficult time at Luton, but then they all did last season as they were relegated.
Hopefully he can get 4-7 goals here during his loan spell and we stay up because we signed him.
Who was your man of the match?
It has to be Ebou Adams for that brilliant reaction to Odel Offiah’s dive late on! It’s the sort of thing which shows he gets the club and gets the fans.
Basically, we won a corner, their lad tried to protect the ball and, when Ebou attempted to get it off him, the Preston man fell over like he’d been assaulted in the street. So our midfielder threw himself to the floor to mimic him! It was superb.
He covers every blade of grass and although he might get a 6/10 one week, he is probably playing at a 8/10 level. He has made such a difference, he is so good.
How do you view Pompey’s January window business?
We have come out of January better than we went into it. Whether we have come out of it better enough is a question that only time will tell. I am hopeful.
Millenic Alli and Adams have looked so good and Jacob Brown, considering he hasn’t played recently, was good enough. If you had an option on Alli and Brown, you are laughing, as they could be part of the future of this club.
Rich Hughes and John Mousinho seem to do miracles in most transfer windows and there are some good signs for this one. Hopefully they have done the same in this one.
Nicolas Schmid - 6
Terry Devlin - 6
Regan Poole - 6
Connor Ogilvie - 6
Zak Swanson - 7
Andre Dozzell - 5
Ebou Adams - 7
Adrian Segecic - 4
Conor Chaplin - 4
Millenic Alli - 6
Jacob Brown - 6