Forward thrilled to reward home support
It had been 15 months since the Fratton faithful last witnessed a Pompey hat-trick.
Danny Hollands scored three times in a meaningless 3-3 draw with Plymouth on the final day of the 2013/14 campaign.
But fans will be hoping that Marc McNulty’s treble in a 6-0 rout of York can help drive the Blues on to promotion.
Ben Davies, Ben Tollitt and Conor Chaplin were also on target after Jonathan Greening had been sent off just before the break.
And the hat-trick hero was delighted to play his part in such a commanding victory in front another large crowd.
McNulty said: “The important thing is that we’ve got all three points because we’ve struggled to break sides down at times.
“But the boys stuck to what the gaffer’s asked us to do and we’ve been rewarded with the victory.
“Sometimes it’s a lot harder against 10 men, but the lads kept on going and never took their foot off the gas.
“We create a lot of chances and haven’t always got the luck we’ve deserved, but this result is a marker we want to build on.
“It’s always extra special to score a hat-trick and it was fantastic to get one at Fratton Park because the fans here are brilliant.
“They definitely helped the boys along the way and they always keep us going on the pitch.”
McNulty played just behind lone striker Caolan Lavery and was full of praise for his fellow on-loan forward.
He said: “I’ll obviously get the plaudits for scoring goals, but Lavs is so unselfish with his running for the team.
“He was fantastic and could have tapped my third goal in, but knew it was for my hat-trick!
“Hopefully building partnerships like those can help us have a lot of success this season.”
Watch McNulty’s thoughts on the game below or subscribe to Pompey PlayerHD for full post-match reaction.