Defender’s delight at Carlisle victory
Enda Stevens hailed a professional performance from Pompey at Carlisle.
Second half strikes from Gary Roberts, Amine Linganzi and Jack Whatmough secured a 3-0 victory that saw them move up to fourth in the League Two table.
It also meant that the Blues closed the gap on the third automatic spot to just three points, with a game in hand.
And Stevens felt that that their Brunton Park performance warranted such a convincing result.
The left-back said: “It was a tough game and the wind played a big part, but I thought it was our most professional performance of the season. Everyone did their jobs.
“We were really in control of the second half and were unlucky not to score on a few occasions.
“Robbo was excellent and he worked his socks off. He drove in and just dinked the keeper – it was a great goal.
“Not many people in this division would have the confidence to do that, but that’s why he’s at this club.
“We then let Carlisle have more of the ball, but pressed and stole it back to break on them, which was summed up by the third goal.
“It was a great finish from Jack. It was pinged at him by Naismith, so he’s done really well to finish that.”
Stevens wants to see Pompey build on their good form when they host Morecambe next week.
He said: “We always knew we had it in us and it was important that we just stayed patient, but now we have to move on to Tuesday.
“It’s the old cliché about taking each game as it comes, but that’s exactly what we’ve got to do at this stage of the season.
“We’ve put ourselves in a great position to really kick on from, so everyone’s got to stay focused.”