Richardson revels in York rout
The final whistle at Fratton Park has been greeted with frustration in recent weeks.
But there were scenes of celebration when Iain Williamson signalled the end of Pompey’s clash with York.
Marc McNulty’s hat-trick and goals from Ben Davies, Ben Tollitt and Conor Chaplin saw the Blues romp to a 6-0 victory.
They all arrived after Jonathan Greening had been sent off on the stroke of half-time for a late challenge on Michael Doyle.
And Leam Richardson was delighted that Pompey were finally rewarded for their dominance.
The Blues’ assistant manager said: “The lads have worked tirelessly in the last few weeks and suffered a tinge of disappointment at the weekend.
“But they’ve come and shown the right application and work ethic to get that result. They turned in a great performance to get an excellent victory.
“I work with them from Monday to Friday, so I see their endeavour and know how much they want it.
“Scoring six goals is great, but the manager has put a lot of work into getting our discipline right on the pitch, so it’s nice to see that pay off with a clean sheet.
“In my opinion the red card was an easy decision – he’s led with his arm and the referee’s seen it, so he’s got to.
“We haven’t had a lot of decisions go in our favour recently, so it’s nice that one has gone our way.”
Richardson was keen to praise the team performance, but also some of the individual displays.
He said: “Marc’s a player we’ve tried to get in the past, so it’s nice to have him down here and the more minutes he plays, the more goals he’ll get.
“Ben came on the pitch on Saturday and made a great impact and he’s done the same again to get his goal.
“It’s no surprise that little Conor scored. The fans sing his name, he comes on and he scores – it’s a formality!”