Portsmouth keeper Alex Bass: Concentrating was toughest task against shot-shy Gillingham

The 21-year-old produced a man-of-the-match display in the midweek 2-2 draw at Oxford United in the Leasing.com Trophy.

With Craig MacGillivray still missing through international duty, the keeper retained his place against Gillingham on Saturday.

The Gills mustered just one attempt on target during the goalless draw, with Bass barely involved, such was Pompey’s dominance.

And that threw up a very different challenge.

He said: ‘Gillingham was the complete opposite of what happened on Tuesday.

‘At Oxford I was very busy and made a lot of good saves, whereas Saturday didn’t have a save to make.

‘It was hard for me because obviously I want to do as much as I can during a game, especially with the adrenaline from my first league start of the season.

‘I have to keep my concentration in games like that. When at home against some teams who aren’t going to get shots against us that much, you still have to be ready for it.

‘It is a tough one because they sat in and had a gameplan to do that, but you have to keep your concentration.

‘Even little things like if I get the ball back and passing it, I have to make sure it’s the best pass possible, just to keep myself in the game.

‘You also must try to keep moving, following the game to make sure you don’t get cold, stuff like that, mainly keeping switched on.’