Accrington 1 Pompey 3: Gaffer For The Day

Dan Knight, 27, from Worthing, delivers his verdict on Pompey's triumph at Accrington.
Michael Doyle was Dan's star man. Picture: Joe PeplerMichael Doyle was Dan's star man. Picture: Joe Pepler
Michael Doyle was Dan's star man. Picture: Joe Pepler

Did that really happen?

I know what you mean, I am actually speechless!

That first-half was probably the best 45 minutes of our season, it was absolutely amazing, we came out so fast.

We could have been 5-0 up at half-time and effectively the match was won at that point.

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The second half was like Sunday League at times with Accrington’s defending.

Still that opening 45 minutes was better than the second half against York at Fratton Park.

They are three massive points and it sends out a statement.

Superb team display then?

These are the sort of matches Gary Roberts and Kyle Bennett need to stand up and be counted – they certainly did that.

Ryan Fulton had nothing to do apart from a couple of catches and the defence dealt with the long ball really, really well.

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Kal Naismith and Marc McNulty also had an impact when they came on and contributed to a great team performance.

Any player stand out in particular for you?

It is a toss up between Michael Doyle or Bennett.

Bennett probably had his best game in a Pompey shirt and worked really hard defensively as well as running at players and putting in crosses.

But I’ll go for Doyle, not just for that goal but for bossing the game.

His goal was even better than Glen Johnson’s against Hull in the Premier League.

So what next for Pompey?

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It was pretty bleak before the Stevenage game – now we are in a pretty strong position.

Suddenly we are looking upwards rather than down and I am definitely more confident of getting automatic promotion.

The priority remains the play-offs but with 10 points from 12, we have a bit of momentum now.

I honestly believe we can do a Northampton and win 10 in a row if we continue to play like last night.

Dan’s ratings: Ryan Fulton 7; Ben Davies 8; Christian Burgess 7; Adam Webster 8; Enda Stevens 7; Michael Doyle 9; Danny Hollands 8; Gareth Evans 7; Gary Roberts 8; Kyle Bennett 9; Michael Smith 8