Taylor buoyant despite injuries
It was a moment of bravery from Ryan Taylor that gave Pompey their first home victory since Boxing Day.
The striker threw his head at Daniel Alfei’s cross early in the second half to net the only goal of the game against AFC Wimbledon.
It left Taylor with a nasty gash on his forehead that had to be bandaged up on the sidelines once the celebrations had died down.
He was then forced off with a groin injury moments later to cap an incident-packed afternoon.
“It was just nice to get the goal,” said Taylor. “I’m not really bothered about the cut on my head.
“Danny put a great ball in, I judged the flight of it and managed to get my head on it.
“Their lad just stuck his head back and caught me on the forehead. I saw a bit of blood, but I was wheeling away and happy to get the goal.
“It was the groin injury that forced me off not the little cut – that would have been a bit embarrassing.”
Once he had left the field, Taylor witnessed his side resist some late Dons pressure to hang on for the win.
He said: “It’s another three points and the boys were terrific. We’ve got to keep producing performances like that to get up the table.
“We showed great fight. I wasn’t on for the last half an hour, but the rest of the lads ran their socks off and put their bodies on the line.
“Wimbledon were putting wave after wave of attack on us and the boys hung in there brilliantly.
“We still need to be mindful of the drop zone, but if we keep picking up points then we can start looking up the table rather than down it.”