Defender reflects on Newport defeat
There were few positives to take from Pompey’s lifeless display against Newport.
The Blues crashed to a 3-0 home defeat against the Welsh side and struggled to create many chances of note.
Defeats for Plymouth and Oxford mean that the gap to the top three remains at six points with 10 games left to go.
But Ben Davies knows they will have to play a lot better if they are to achieve their goals this season.
The right-back said: “We’re all disappointed because we never really got going – from the first minute until the last.
“We couldn’t string two passes together and for some reason we were getting bogged down in the middle of the pitch.
“You just have to take it on the chin and accept that the only good thing to come out of the afternoon is that Plymouth and Oxford both lost.
“It was a million miles away from what happened at Accrington on Tuesday night and that seems to be a bit of trend for us this season.
“There have been a few times when we’ve got ourselves in a good position and thought we’d kick on and it just hasn’t happened.
“Despite how bad we were, it’s important that we dust ourselves down and be as positive as we can for the next game.”
Davies did not agree with the decision to send off Gary Roberts, who received the second of his two bookings for alleged simulation.
But the defender failed to use that as an excuse for why Pompey ended up being comprehensively beaten.
He said: “I was running forward to take the free-kick because I thought it was a blatant foul. Robbo was in a great shooting position, so I’m not sure why he’d dive.
“But there was more to the result than that – we were way off the pace today and Newport played well.”