'There’s no better ball-winning centre-half in the division': Danny Cowley on one of Portsmouth early-season stars

Danny Cowley has saluted Sean Raggett’s outstanding early-season form.
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But Pompey’s head coach refuses to get carried away with praise for a central-defensive partnership he credits as ‘work in progress’.

Raggett has started the campaign in eye-catching fashion.

Now in his third season at Fratton Park, he has been a pivotal performer in a defence which has yet to concede in three League One fixtures.

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Certainly the supporter plaudits have been growing for the 27-year-old.

And that has been echoed by Cowley, who welcomes encouraging early signs of developing a strong partnership with Clark Robertson.

The Blues boss told The News: ‘Sean has done well, he knows what he’s good at.

‘There’s no better ball-winning centre-half in the division, certainly not a braver one, and, when he keeps his game simple, I think he is a really, really effective player.

Sean Raggett has been in outstanding early-season form for Pompey. Picture: Jason Brown/ProSportsImagesSean Raggett has been in outstanding early-season form for Pompey. Picture: Jason Brown/ProSportsImages
Sean Raggett has been in outstanding early-season form for Pompey. Picture: Jason Brown/ProSportsImages
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‘He works really hard at his game, his heart is massive, he’s a great kid.

‘Sean did really well at Millwall against a tough forward line. Imagine playing against Tom Bradshaw and Benik Afobe, then getting to 66 minutes and Matt Smith comes on!

‘That’s not easy for a centre-half, let me tell you, but he did great.

‘The group in front of him and Clark (Robertson) were excellent as well, they did a lot of their work.

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‘Sean and Clark are starting to look like a partnership. If they can back it up and play with real consistency over a period of time, then I will shout it out from the rooftops.

‘But until that point, they are very much a work in progress.’

Raggett suffered double disappointment on the final day of last season.

He was dropped from Pompey’s defence for the visit of Accrington, preventing him from being an ever-present in the 46-game League One campaign.

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Then the 1-0 defeat ended the Blues’ hopes of reaching the play-off semi-finals.

But Raggett has responded well to being overlooked on that occasion for Jack Whatmough and Paul Downing.

Cowley added: ‘That would have hurt him, it wasn’t an easy decision to make, we just felt that it was an offensive decision.

‘We had to win the game. We thought Accrington would come and play man-to-man against us, which they did, and we had to try to create a free man.

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‘Sean’s come back well from that, though. He’s a great lad.’

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