You always need scrappy wins

Yep, I am keen to be entertained when I go to football, which hopefully results in a Pompey win. However, at times you accept it is what it is and the points are the main thing.

I couldn’t make this game – fortunately my season ticket got used again – and from the purists point of view it wasn’t a bad one to miss, but when you look at the bigger picture a seventh win in eight games means the Blues are breathing down the neck of sixth placed Charlton, behind the Addicks on goal difference alone now.

The winning goal came in the second half, just past the hour when Matt Clarke got onto the end of Gareth Evans’ corner to clinch a 1-0 win over bottom of the table Bury.

Let’s face it, in some games we’ll place extremely well, be very much entertained too, but end up getting nothing, so from a scrappy pre-Christmas affair if we can grind out a win we’ll take it?

Assistant manager Joe Gallen has certainly taken such a stance when quoted by the News post-match.

He said: ‘We are looking for this season to be successful and if that’s the case in May we’ll be looking at some of these scrappy 1-0 wins along the way. In some of the years where I’ve been lucky to be part of promotions, there have been plenty of games which have looked like just that today.’

Evans, who found himself out of the side in the early stages of the season, has very much forced himself back into Kenny Jackett’s first team – his delivery was again central to a Pompey win, which wasn’t missed by Gallen.

‘Gareth Evans has very good delivery in recent weeks and with his delivery in particular, he’s been very consistent and accurate. We are desperate to improve our tally of scoring goals from set-pieces, last week O’Keefe scored or Magennis – they are still arguing about it – but it was Gareth’s delivery,’ Gallen added.

Gallen continued: ‘Today was another excellent delivery and in the first half he had some very good deliveries too, we just didn’t quite get on the end of it. It was a bullet header from Matt Clarke, typical of those sort of games. All that matters are the three points.’

As said, a wins a win. It keeps the consistency and momentum going. We’ll probably need to be at our best against second placed Shrewsbury if we’re to go into Christmas with this form remaining as impressive – on paper anyway – as it is at the moment.

PLAY UP POMPEY

Follow @VitalPortsmouth.

2017-18 Prediction League – December
Shrewsbury (a) Saturday 23rd December 2017 – click here.
Wimbledon (h) Tuesday 26th December 2017 – click here.
Northampton (h) Saturday 30th December 2017 – click here.