Striker happy with Morecambe brace
It was a move that Pompey had spent a lot of time perfecting on the training ground.
And Jake Jervis was the grateful beneficiary as the Blues put their plan into action at Morecambe.
Manager Richie Barker had spotted a weakness and wanted his players to double up on their opponents in wide areas before getting the ball in the box.
That’s exactly what happened as crosses from Jed Wallace and Marcos Painter were gleefully despatched by Jervis.
But the striker’s good mood was tempered by the fact that Morecambe twice hit back to equalise as Pompey had to settle for a point.
Jervis said: “I’m happy with my two goals, but obviously massively disappointed that we couldn’t hold on for the win.
“We’ve been working on getting the ball down the sides and then into the box and thankfully we were able to do that.
“There were a couple of good crosses in from Jed and Paints and I was able to put them away.
“When you’ve put all that hard work in during the week and then it pays off you’re going to be pleased.”
Jervis was starting his first game since settling a long drawn out contract sage with Turkish side Elazigspor.
Now he is hoping to find some consistency and help fire Pompey up the League Two table.
“I haven’t started a game in quite a while and I was surprised with how good I felt,” said Jervis. “Hopefully I can take that into the next game.
“We obviously need some more wins and I want to help with that, while also getting a few goals. I’ll work hard to try to make that happen.
“We need to start turning draws into victories and get a winning mentality here to move up the table.”