‘Bedlam’: Portsmouth skipper surveys away end carnage as 3,000 travelling faithful party at Millwall
Marlon Pack spoke of his pride at sparking wild scenes of celebration as Pompey took their biggest Championship scalp of the season.
And the Blues skipper told how delivering the killer goal in his side’s huge 3-1 win at Millwall was made all the more enjoyable, as his friends and family partied among the 3,000-plus travelling fans at The Den.
John Mousinho’s side served up a huge success in the capital to build a six-point gap to the drop zone, against the promotion chasers.
Pack effectively put the game to bed three minutes after Millwall gave themselves a lifeline through Casper De Norre, with loved ones and pals lapping up his 67th-minute effort.
He said: ‘It was bedlam and there was people jumping over each other.
‘I had my family in there and I had quite a few tickets. They come the majority of the time, whether I’m injured or on the bench,
‘It’s always nice to have family in the stands when you score in front of the away end.
‘I saw a couple of my mates and one brought his daughter, I caught eyes with him and when I scored I knew where he was.
‘Even if they’re not my friends, they are friends of friends and there’s always the usual suspects I see.
‘I recognise them from over the years and being Pompey fans and going to games, usually going in the Shepherd’s Crook, The Barn, Pickwick’s when it was there and the White House. I know them all!’
Pompey’s win came against a Millwall side who’d lost just one of their past 12 games on home soil, with a single reverse in their past 10 outings.
Alex Neil’s side are firmly in the automatic shake-up, with Pack rating the win as his side’s best this term.
He added: ‘I think so (it’s Pompey’s biggest scalp of the season).
‘We had full belief in our dressing room we could come here and get something.
‘We realised the form they’ve been in and how well they’ve done this season, they are a really good team at this level.
‘We’ve grown in confidence over performances.
‘When we’ve been disappointing we’ve asked questions of ourselves, especially over those fine margins.
‘I think this season, the games we’ve lost have been decided on moment - so it’s how can we better on those?
‘I think the group came here, set our stall out and took the game to them.
‘We started the second half well and it gave us a great foundation to finish the half well and get the three points.’