Harness was a first-half ‘threat’ in drab defeat

KENNY JACKETT believes Marcus Harness is Pompey’s sole attacking player who fired during last night’s 1-0 defeat at Blackpool.

The previously free-scoring Blues drew a blank at a cold Bloomfield Road with arguably their worst display this season.

In particular, Jackett’s forward-thinking players failed to sparkle, with Ronan Curtis and Ryan Williams substituted and John Marquis missing several opportunities.

However, Pompey’s boss absolved Harness of criticism.

He said: ‘I thought there were moments with Marcus in the first half where it was one pass or close. They either blocked or cut it out.

‘There was one terrific ball through to John Marquis and one reverse pass to Callum Johnson was very, very good.

‘In terms of creating, that was him through the middle, where he was probably our most creative force of the game I felt.

‘In the second half – when he went wide – I thought we lost him a bit in the game. In the first half he was a threat and we were very, very close to getting that final pass.

‘Yet when Marcus went out wide we couldn’t get him on the ball, unfortunately.’

It was a frustrating evening for Curtis, who struggled to get going, often vacating his left-wing berth to come infield in search of the ball.

Jackett added: ‘Maybe

Ronan was frustrated. He wants to get on the ball, he wants to compete, he wants to play and obviously he wants to score goals as well.

‘Ronan has the freedom down the left-hand side to get involved. If when he’s wide he doesn’t necessarily get into the game, it’s very important that he does.

‘For him, he has the freedom to be a little bit flexible to be able to get on the ball. It wasn’t necessarily a tactic or deliberate.’