'Quality' Ben Close earns Pompey boss praise after Wembley progress over Cheltenham
Kenny Jackett acknowledged Ben Close’s ‘quality of passing’ as the midfielder shone in Pompey’s Papa John’s Trophy progress.
The Blues won 3-0 at League Two Cheltenham tonight, through two goals from Jordy Hiwula and Haji Mnoga, to reach the last 16.
Close’s impact was noticeable, producing arguably his best display of what has proven a frustrating campaign for the 24-year-old.
Whaddon Road represented a fifth start of the season in all competitions for the former first-team regular.
And Jackett was delighted with Close’s contribution in a side containing 11 changes from Saturday.
He told The News: ‘I thought Ben was excellent, although there were a lot of good performances from ourselves and it’s hard to really single anyone out.
‘He hasn’t had that many chances this season. My preferred midfield has been Andy Cannon and Tom Naylor, I think they both have played well.
‘Ben hasn’t done a lot wrong – it just is they have done well.
‘For Ben when we need him, when he comes in he will never let us down. If he gets a run of one, two or three games and gets his rhythm, he will be hard to shift as well for whoever misses out.
‘He did a bit of everything, he picked up a lot of second balls in midfield, played in front of a back three and produced a quality of passing that gave us some good moves and in the end resulted in us scoring three goals.
‘He got us moving in the right direction, finding his men, switching the play well and producing those moments of quality we needed.’
Pompey had to overcome early pressure from the high-flying hosts.
However, once Mnoga opened the scoring on 15 minutes, from Close’s pass, the Blues went on to secure a comfortable 3-0 triumph.
Jackett added: ‘It was a really hard-fought win, Cheltenham started fast and put us under pressure.
‘After that we’ve grown into the game – and we needed to because it was a strong Cheltenham side.
‘They were physically powerful and a team of men with a lot of experience at a club on the up.
‘There was an early scare, but we battled away and scored some good goals.’
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