Ward: My focus is only on Pompey

The home-grown talent was a target for Ipswich during the January transfer window and was the subject of a loan bid from the Portman Road outfit before the emergency window closed last week.

While he met the Suffolk club for talks, Ward got his wish to remain at Pompey when the club raised much-needed funds from the loan fees for Erik Huseklepp, Liam Lawrence, Stephen Henderson and Hayden Mullins.

But asked about the Ipswich interest and how close the move had been, Ward preferred instead to talk about his immediate future with Pompey.

He said: ‘I don’t really want to focus on that. I’m here to play my football for Portsmouth and that’s where I want to be.

‘I am going to continue to give everything I’ve got.

‘My focus is on trying to keep the club in this league.

‘I just want to focus on the football, help the club out and keep pushing forward.’

The 22-year-old struck Pompey’s second goal in the 2-0 win over Hull to lift the club off the foot of the Championship table.

But he is now targeting a second straight home win against Burnley this weekend that could take the Blues out of the drop zone if other results go their way.

He said: ‘It’s a massive boost to be off the bottom of the table but we need to take that into the next few games coming up.

‘We’re not silly – we know what’s going on around us and we have got one eye on the table.

‘But we can only take it one game at a time and will do everything in our power to make sure we keep picking up points.’