POMPEY GATECRASH THE PARTY
SHAUN Derry believes his old club Portsmouth should be performing far better than they are, despite their win over his current employers Cambridge.
The U’s boss made more than 50 appearances for Pompey in two years, but couldn’t mastermind a win against his old club on his return to Fratton Park.
Marc McNulty fired Portsmouth ahead just before half-time before Adam Webster completed the win, Luke Berry snatching a late consolation goal.
Derry said: “I was really looking forward to this game, but we struggled to get going.
“We’ve come up against a club who should be in a higher division. They should be running away with the league.
“To go up against Portsmouth on their own patch, I am frustrated that we didn’t give them more of a game.
“We had a game plan to try and silence them and that was going smoothly until we switched off with five minutes to go in the first half. When you concede goals like that you don’t win games.
“It was a really frustrating afternoon. We’ve given goals away this afternoon. But Portsmouth shouldn’t be in our league anyway.”
McNulty’s tenth goal of the season set Pompey on their way with four minutes left of the first half to play, running onto Michael Doyle’s quick free-kick and firing in off the underside of the bar.
Jimmy Spencer, who was booked just before the half hour mark for totting up fouls, was lucky not to receive his marching orders just before half-time after catching Enda Stevens in the face.
Webster completed Pompey’s win in in the 62nd minute, following up from Kyle Bennett’s 20-yard shot, which hit the bar, to fire into the roof of the net.
Berry grabbed a consolation goal for Derry’s side, firing in from close range after a free-kick from the left of the box.
And Portsmouth boss Paul Cook was disappointed by his side’s inability to keep a clean sheet again after Gareth Evans gave away the late free-kick.
Cook said: “I felt we had put up a good performance, apart from conceding a late goal again, which is a problem we have and it’s a disappointing one.
“All our goals against have come from set pieces recently and we have to stop giving them free-kicks away in the final third.
“I would have gone to seven or eight at the back to keep a clean sheet but we still can’t keep it. My worry is that Gareth Evans has given the freekick away.
“We’ve beaten Bristol Rovers and now we’ve beaten a strong Cambridge team who are on a good run. The reality was the win lifted the mood of the place. “I was brought in to do a job and I’m 32 games into that.The more we stay together and the more we stay strong the further we will go.”