Gaffer For A Day: A proper Portsmouth performance by players and supporters - we can beat anyone at home
Gaffer For A Day Luke Stewart, aged 36, from Fareham, analyses Pompey’s 2-1 success over QPR...
What did you make of Pompey’s display?
It was gritty, determined, dogged - a proper Pompey performance. There was a bit of quality, but also a real 10/10 team effort. A very, very, very good team display.
The first half was quite poor as a game, it was a bit like Oxford United, a very similar match there was no rhythm, we couldn't get the ball down, we couldn't get Murphy into it, we couldn't get Adil Aouchiche into it. So stop-start.
But that second-half start, the energy was amazing. Even with Rob Atkinson off, we managed to find a way to stop Michael Frey, who was a real handful. We dug right in.
Who stood out for you?
In the first half we struggled to get the ball out to Josh Murphy, but in the second half he had the right-back on toast.
It was his crossing ability, the danger he offered coming inside was amazing, they just didn’t know what to do with him. He’s very, very dangerous and an exciting player to watch
He’s grown into the season, his consistency levels have increased and also his work-rate, it will be interesting to see what his running stats were.
Murphy has grown in confidence and clearly Mousinho trusts him. He’s a starter every game, basically if he’s fit, he’s in, it’s a no brainer.
It was a shame what happened with Hayden Matthews, he has really, really grown and looked really sharp. I hope he’s all right, he has grown in stature, he’s a big lad, a colossus at the back, he’s impressive.
He could barely walk at the end. There was a moment QPR broke and Pack said “I’m going to drop in and you just go up front”
Even then, Matthews was trying to chase back, but just couldn’t run, he was limping his way through. Fair play to coming into the Championship and putting in performances like that.
What do you make of the relegation situation now?
To win three in a row is incredible, but we still have work to do. There are 12 games left and there are teams who will go on a run and climb the table. A lot can happen with 36 points up for grabs.
We need to get to 50 points pretty quickly. We can beat anyone at home and are going to surprise a few teams away from home now.
Pompey look more solid as a unit and came out of January a lot stronger than we went into it, which is testament to the club as a whole. That was impressive business.
We now have more options, with a stronger bench, and those substitutes handled the injuries really well against QPR.
Nicolas Schmid - 7
Zak Swanson - 7
Hayden Matthews - 8
Rob Atkinson 7 (Regan Poole 8)
Connor Ogilvie - 8
Andre Dozzell - 8
Isaac Hayden - 8
Matt Ritchie - 8
Adil Aouchiche - 7
Josh Murphy - 10
Colby Bishop - 9