Portsmouth were much better than Walsall

A welcome victory for Pompey then.

Yes, it was a must-win game - and we won it.

Overall, we were a good side and got the result we deserved with a seven out of 10 performance.

We were much better than Walsall throughout and could have scored a few more goals on top of that.

But I’ll take the win, we were all desperate to see that.

Nervous at the end?

I wouldn’t say that, Walsall grabbed their second goal so late so it wasn’t going to make a difference, there were only 30 seconds left.

Up until the 75th minute I was thinking it was the perfect performance, we were 3-0 up - only to concede two goals from set-pieces.

That was a shame, we played really well and that scoreline flattered Walsall. We were better than them and deserved it.

To go from 3-0 to 3-2 was disappointing and they’ll need to work hard on the training ground to stop that happening again.

Who stood out for you?

Jamal Lowe was my man of the match, he was our most threatening player going forward.

You can see he is coming back into form now following a quiet period, he was beating players man for man at the Bescot Stadium.

There was also his contribution in the third goal, unselfishly putting in Viv Solomon-Otabor to score.

There were quite a few good performances, but Lowe’s was the best.

What did you think about Brett Pitman?

I really rated him, even if he was asked to play behind Omar Bogle.

He worked harder than he normally does and showed Kenny Jackett how much he wanted to get back into the team.

Not only did he score the opening goal from the penalty spot, but in the build up to the third goal he won the ball and got it out to the wing.

I can’t see him in that role permanently, though. Having said that, from what I saw, I wouldn’t have any complaints about him playing there again.

Ratings

Craig MacGillivray 6

Nathan Thompson 7

Christian Burgess 7

Matt Clarke 6

Lee Brown 7

Tom Naylor 6

Ben Close 6

Jamal Lowe 8

Brett Pitman 8

Viv Solomon-Otabor 7

Omar Bogle 8