Boss delighted with Plymouth victory
Pompey were struggling to find any fluency in the first half of their home clash with Plymouth.
But another stunning strike from Jed Wallace – his second over the Easter weekend – broke the deadlock just seconds after the restart.
Ryan Taylor then got Fratton rocking when he arrived at the far post to head home Dan Butler’s fine cross.
Olly Lee pulled one back and the Pilgrims poured forward in the closing stages before a red card for skipper Curtis Nelson halted their charge.
And Andy Awford was thrilled with the way his side responded to his half-time instructions.
The Blues boss said: “I thought we deserved the victory, although we could have done better with the ball before the break.
“When you play with three behind Taylor there has to be more movement and I wanted Jed to be more than a left winger.
“So we spoke about a few things at half-time and thankfully they took that on board and were a lot better.
“We were excellent in the second half, even if we didn’t make it easy for ourselves by conceding straight after we went two up.
“Jed’s in good form and has scored a couple of fantastic goals in the last two games. He’s always willing to pull the trigger and was rewarded for that.
“It was a great cross to the back stick by Dan for the second and Ryan is always dangerous in that situation.”
Awford was also full of praise for the Fratton faithful, with more than 16,000 fans packed into the ground to watch the victory.
He said: “The supporters certainly played their part in keeping us going towards the end.
“This is a magnificent football club and the fans are its heartbeat – I love them to bits.
“What they’ve done in the past and what they continue to do is phenomenal, so the players have a duty to give their absolute all.
“As long as they do that then the fans will accept them, so we have to perform every week.”