Jackett assesses Pompey’s friendly victory
It was a second half comeback that ensured Pompey ended pre-season on a high.
Trailing to Thomas Verheydt’s early header, a brace from skipper Brett Pitman secured a 2-1 victory at Crawley.
His first was a fine free-kick that flew into the top corner of the net, while the second was a neat finish lifted over Reds keeper Glenn Morris.
And Kenny Jackett was pleased with the way his side recovered from a poor opening 45 minutes.
The Blues boss said: “I felt that Crawley had the better of us in the first half and that they deserved their lead.
“They’re a powerful side and we didn’t do well enough from set-pieces. We need to be more aggressive in our own box.
"We were much more constructive and looked more like the side that I want to see on a matchday."
“We’d been looking for the killer ball too much and there had been too many wasted passes. We went a little bit too long.
“But we came back strong in the second, had the majority of the play and I’m pleased to say we scored two good goals.
“We were much more constructive and looked more like the side that I want to see on a matchday.
“It’s always great to see your striker scoring goals and it was a good free-kick to equalise. We’ve got a lot of ability in that area.”
Pompey’s schedule of friendlies is now over and next up is the League One opener against Rochdale next Saturday.
Jackett said: “The players have shown a very good attitude throughout pre-season and worked very hard. They’re excited about the challenge of competing in a new division.
“I’m looking forward to it as well. We’ve got a lot of league games in August and September and that’ll tell us where we are as a team.”