Boss delighted with performance against Stevenage
Andy Awford had asked for a massive improvement after Pompey’s humbling at Bury.
And that is exactly what he got as the Blues ended their winless run against Stevenage.
They had to recover from falling behind to Dean Wells’ strike midway through the first half.
Goals from Jed Wallace and Miles Storey turned the match on its head, before a Joe Devera mistake gifted Chris Beardsley an equaliser.
But Devera then made amends by grabbing the winner and Awford felt it was a deserved victory.
The Blues boss said: “We needed a reaction after what happened at the weekend – and we certainly got one.
“I’m delighted for the supporters and the players because we owed ourselves a performance, but we also owed the fans.
“We made it difficult for ourselves by conceding a couple of sloppy goals, but the important thing is we got the three points.
“We controlled long periods of the second half and the overall performance deserved that result.
“Every single one of our players was eight out of 10. We’ve played on the front foot and not let Stevenage settle.
“We talk a lot about formations, but it’s 11 v 11 and I thought our 11 were better than their 11 and we thoroughly deserved the victory.
“It wasn’t pretty at times and we did go a bit direct, but that caused them problems and they struggled to cope with what we were doing.”
Awford was delighted for Devera, who scored his first ever Pompey goal with a left-footed finish at the Fratton End.
He said: “Joe’s such a top bloke. He comes into training, works hard and tries to be the best player he can be.
“He would have been distraught with the goal we conceded, but he atoned for the mistake.
“I’ve done that many times before and you’re praying someone digs you out, but he did it himself.
“I wanted him to pass it wide so we could get the ball back in the box, but now I’m relieved that he did shoot.”