Midfielder delighted with Grimsby passion
It was a reaction that showed the spirit binding the Pompey squad.
When Kal Naismith’s late free-kick hit the back of the net at Grimsby on Saturday there were the usual on-pitch celebrations.
But everyone on the bench – to a man – also jumped for joy and rushed forward to show their glee at the goal.
And Carl Baker believes that was proof of how much desire there is coursing through the Blues.
The midfielder said: “You’re celebrating even more when you score a late winner away from home and it was a great goal from Kal.
“We’ve seen him do that in training loads of times and it’s good technique to get the ball up and down like he did.
“The reaction on the pitch and from the bench shows what it means to everyone and just how much we all want to win.
“It was frustrating not to have a game last week after a poor performance in the previous game, so it made this result even more important.
“The fans were getting behind us throughout, so it was nice to send them home with smiles on their faces.
“Grimsby is a difficult place to go, but we defended well and created a lot of chances, so I thought it was a deserved victory.
“There were a lot of times when we put them under so much pressure they had to kick it long and we won back possession.
“Now we now need to take that performance into the next game and try to get another run going.”
Pompey were up against League Two top scorer Omar Bogle – who has netted 16 times this season – but the striker was restricted to scraps.
Baker said: “Credit to Burge and Clarke because he is a bit of a handful, but they dealt with him really well.
“They forced him to go out wide and that’s great because he’s obviously not going to cause us as many problems in those positions.”