Boss happy with Orient victory
It was as dominant a display as you are likely to see from Pompey all season.
And a 2-1 victory over Leyton Orient ensured that they got their automatic promotion challenge back on track.
The margin of victory should have been greater, with Conor Chaplin seeing a penalty saved, while several more chances were spurned.
But a brace from the diminutive striker meant that Paul Cook was happy with the outcome.
The Blues boss said: “It was so important that we won this game and got the three points.
“We were disappointed after the Doncaster result, but the lads were excellent and they really answered the call.
“The fans have been wanting us to start with two up top at home and when you play with the intensity we showed, then you’ll always hurt teams.
“It was one of our better performances of the season and we looked a real threat, creating a lot of chances.
“We should have been out of sight at half-time, but we weren’t and the important thing is the result.
“Conor’s got amazing mental toughness and we don’t beat our players up for missing penalties. He had a magnificent game overall and deserved his man-of-the-match award.
“But we’re not getting carried away with this and now we’re just going to look forward to playing Crawley next Saturday.”
An injury to Gareth Evans meant he failed to return after the interval, with Jamal Lowe coming on to make his Blues bow and Carl Baker utilised in an unfamiliar right-back role.
Cook explained: “Gareth got a kick on the ankle and had to come off, but we didn’t feel they were hurting us in wide areas, so we moved Carl back.
“We could afford to make that kind of change and we wanted to get Jamal on for his debut.”
Watch Cook’s thoughts on the game below or subscribe to Pompey PlayerHD for full post-match video content.