Portsmouth steel when under pressure at Burton kept promotion push on track

Matt Clarke praised the rock solid Pompey nerve after Burton were beaten in the League One clash on Good Friday.
Pompey earned a massive win at Burton. Picture: Daniel Chesterton/phcimages.comPompey earned a massive win at Burton. Picture: Daniel Chesterton/phcimages.com
Pompey earned a massive win at Burton. Picture: Daniel Chesterton/phcimages.com

The Blues kept their cool under pressure and then struck right at the end to get the kind of victory many a promotion party has been built on.

Clarke scored that goal but he also knew the significance of the way Kenny Jackett’s men held on when they needed in the game, fending off Burton’s blows to deny a team who have been in good form themselves.

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The Pompey centre-back said: ‘It was a game that at the start of the second half could have slipped away from us.

‘We had to really dig in to stay at 1-1.

‘It’s significant in the fact that we could have easily slipped up and crumbled but that wasn’t the case.

‘We were pleased to come through it.’

Victory was a 13th away win for Pompey this season and they will be confident and feeling good for the visit of Coventry at Fratton Park on Easter Monday.

The Blues remain with their promotion hopes in their own hands.

They are in fantastic form as well.

That’s important at this stage as they trade strikes with the likes of Barnsley and Sunderland in the race to get one of the automatic promotion places.