Portsmouth News

We must replicate derby tempo in key league scrap

Burgess challenges Pompey to repeat early fire at Fratton

- By LEWIS MASON

CHRISTIAN BURGESS has called for Pompey to replicate the early tempo shown in the south-coast derby as they bid to kick-start their League One campaign against Bolton.

The Blues created numerous chances in the opening 20 minutes but suffered a 4-0 Carabao Cup defeat against arch-rivals Southampto­n at Fratton Park.

There could have been a different outcome had John Marquis’ sweet strike not hit a post or efforts from Burgess himself and Brett Pitman found the net prior to Danny Ings’ 21st-minute opener.

And Burgess believes similar fast starts can help promotion-hopefuls Pompey start to climb the League One standings.

The centre-back said: ‘There were positives to take from the game.

‘If we start most games with that tempo then we should be looking to be 1-0 or 2-0 ahead and that’s only a positive for us.

‘We need to try replicate that in our games to come.

‘Things went for us a little bit early on, we played some good stuff (against Southampto­n).

‘A couple of key passes and making the right decisions led to to chances. You get corners from there, you attack it, the crowd are up, everything is going well and you get momentum. ‘Now Bolton is a massive game but all games for this club are massive. ‘We’ve got to try to Pompey bossed the first 20 minutes against Southampto­n take positives and momentum into the game and see if we can get a result.’

Bolton’s start to the season has been a turbulent one to say the least.

They were deducted 12 points in the summer after entering administra­tion and only had four senior players on their books as the campaign got under way.

However, Football Ventures completed a takeover last month, with a number of players recruited before the transfer window closed.

And Burgess is pleased to see the Trotters getting back on track.

He said: ‘It shows the danger of many clubs out there how close you can be to getting into financial difficulty.

‘Thankfully for football itself they have managed to get out of it and rebuild their squad.

‘It was a huge disadvanta­ge the points when they started the season.

‘Make no mistake, they’ll be a good side tomorrow and they have got some really good players.’

 ?? Pictures: Joe Pepler ?? CHANCE Christian Burgess went close to scoring in the early skirmishes against Southampto­n
Pictures: Joe Pepler CHANCE Christian Burgess went close to scoring in the early skirmishes against Southampto­n

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