Gaffer For A Day: Portsmouth need to rename the North Stand after our hero Alan Knight
Gaffer For A Day Will Hahn, aged 55 from Waterlooville, assesses Pompey’s 2-0 win over Cardiff...
What did you make of Pompey’s display?
If I was a Cardiff fan, I would be pretty annoyed because for the first hour we were under pressure. We had 15 minutes, maybe 20, in the first half when we got the opening goal, but prior to that they had us under the cosh.


What I did notice - whether it’s because of the way Cardiff set up and played against us - was there seemed to be a change of system or a change of how we played. We didn’t have the possession-based game we’ve been showing the last few matches. It appeared to be a bit more direct.
Whether that was a consequence of us being pushed back early on, I don’t know, but it was probably the right thing to do.
Overall we looked quite solid as a unit, even if we only had about 30 minutes of that game, while when we went forward we looked quite threatening at times.
Who was your man of the match?
From the word go, Jayden Meghoma was involved. He was going forward, getting involved in attacks, you could see there is an absolute talent there.
Having a season in Scotland at a big club like Rangers has obviously given him a lot of confidence and that showed on his debut for us.
Without doubt we needed a left-back. I’m not knocking Zak Swanson, but in that first 10 minutes you could see a partnership developing between Meghoma and Tyrese Shade, they seemed to understand what each other was doing.
It was quite exciting, that’s not something we’ve had for a couple of seasons - and I’m looking forward to more of it.
What do you make of this transfer window?
I don’t think we’ve bought bad players. Rocco Shein looked pretty decent against Darmstadt and West Ham, then suddenly came into the hustle and bustle of the Championship season.
Abu Kamara was obviously the highlight coming back and we again saw glimpses against Cardiff, while he was very unlucky when he hit the bar. That was right in front of us.
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Marko Milovanovic at times looks a little languid and seems off the pace, but suddenly he’ll get a chance and score. He was unlucky with that header that was disallowed too - but he brings something different to Bishop.
As for Shade, he looked pretty promising, he didn’t do a lot wrong and was quite direct, always looking to get onto the ball where possible. If he and Meghoma can carry on like that then we’ve got a good base on the left-hand side.
What did you make of the Alan Knight tribute?
Alan Knight was my goalkeeper. When I started going to watch Pompey back in the late 1970s, he was the one - and it was a lovely tribute.
He was a stalwart through all the good times, the ups and downs of the 1980s, the indifferent 1990s. That FA Cup semi-final, if he had been an inch taller then he would have saved that free-kick and we would have gone to Wembley.
When I was younger, he lived down Twyford Avenue and I would see him quite regularly, he was always pleasant to us.
Hopefully the owners will name the North Stand after Knightsie and the South Stand after Jimmy Dickinson. They both deserve to have stands named after them.
Daniel Bielica - 8
Terry Devlin - 7
Benjy Arthur - 8
Conor Shaughnessy - 8
Jayden Meghoma - 9 - MOM
Marlon Pack - 8
Rocco Shein - 7
Abu Kamara - 8
Adrian Segecic - 7
Tyrese Shade - 8
Marko Milovanovic - 8
