Gaffer For A Day: Forget Portsmouth for the play-offs, I'd be happy with a mid-table finish
Gaffer For A Day, Samm Downing, aged 41 from Gosport, analyses Pompey’s 2-1 win over Millwall...
What do you make of that match?
It was a game devoid of quality. I messaged some friends at half-time saying the match was lacking quality - then about 10 minutes into the second half I messaged my friend again and said I think the quality has got even worse!
Millwall haven’t been on a great run and we’ve been eking out these results. I wouldn’t say we have dominated any of the last four games, but last season potentially we’d have lost all of them.
We seem to have turned that corner where we’ve been able to see out these games and get ourselves over the line.
Thomas Waddingham looked superb, he was dynamic, he was making runs, he was moving towards the ball. I know it was a lucky ricochet, but I don’t think Colby Bishop or Marko Milovanovic would have even been in that position to be hit by the ball.
Who was your man of the match?
It has to be Ebou Adams. when he came on he was fantastic. It was his energy, keeping the ball up the pitch, brilliant.
There have been some games when he’s started and started slowly, not really getting into it so much. But, when he comes off the bench later in a match, it lifts the crowd and the team around him.
It was 1-1 when he was introduced against Millwall and he changed everything for us, such a great impact from the bench.
Credit also to Madiodio Dia for putting his body on the line. He’s grown into the Pompey shirt and the fans are getting behind him as well, building his confidence.
You have Milovanovic a low rating. Why?
For a guy who has come in with the moniker BFS, he doesn't really use his size much. He goes to ground so easily when the ball is played into him.
People moan about Bishop and how all he does is win headers. Well Milovanovic isn’t even winning headers! He's not bringing anyone into play around him, he just looks lost up there.
I don’t know whether he needs a goal to go in off his backside rather than scoring a penalty. Like Bishop, he hasn’t been helped by the crossing.
Bishop thrived off those early crosses from Murphy, whereas a lot of our wingers if they aren’t confident of beating their man are too happy to turn back and keep it safe, they’ve not been willing to take risks.
If our strikers aren’t getting the service then they can’t score, but then when the ball’s coming to them, they aren’t looking likely to do anything with it themselves.
So can Pompey make the play-offs?
Those two extra spots are now seventh and eight, but I still think over the course of the season it’s probably out of Pompey's reach.
You look at the injuries we’ve got and, while I know we have players coming back, you never know who we are going to lose. I would be happy just sitting in mid-table, from 12th to 14th.
I’m actually still looking down the table, checking how many points we are above the relegation zone, rather than how many points are above us. Being a Pompey fan, you always have that negative look on things, it’s hard to be positive.
As long as we’re not scrapping around the relegation zone come Christmas or we go into a bit of a dive with our form and drop down the table, I think that mid-table obscurity would be perfect.
Nicolas Schmid - 4
Terry Devlin - 6
Regan Poole - 7
Madiodio Dia - 8
Zak Swanson - 6
Marlon Pack - 6
Iyad Mohamed - 7
Abu Kamara - 5
Adrian Segecic - 6
Ryan Kavuma-McQueen - 5
Marko Milovanovic - 5