Jackett: Pompey’s promotion push is on

PORTSMOUTH manager Kenny Jackett has not given up on automatic promotion after his side’s win at home to Scunthorpe.

Pompey closed the gap on the top two to four points after goals by Omar Bogle and Jamal Lowe.

Jackett said: “We have to keep the pressure on, there are 24 more points to play for and a lot can happen in those points.

“We have to keep believing and keep going for that but if ultimately it is the play-offs we want to go in to them playing well, winning games and playing with confidence.

“In the first half we were in control of the game trying to do the right things. We couldn’t either find the right ball or a couple of times the finish.

“It was a key goal from Omar Bogle, he’s tucked it in the corner and given the keeper no chance.

“From then on we did very well and it’s something we have wanted to improve on and have talked about going on from the first goal and getting over the line.”

Scunthorpe manager Stuart McCall admitted his side were second best.

McCall said: “It was a tough ask coming to a side that are pushing towards the top of the league, 26 points ahead of us.

“They were better than us. We would have to be at our best but we weren’t.

“We said before the game they’ve got a lot of attacking threats and we would have to defend well but I was disappointed with our offensive play and we didn’t look after it well enough.

“You can talk about formations and tactics but you need your good players to be on top of their game against better players and unfortunately we didn’t cause them problems.”

Pompey had the best of the chances in the first half, with Lee Brown firing wide from 30 yards and moments later Jamal Lowe sending an effort over.

Lowe was then thwarted by a block after rounding goalkeeper Jak Alnwick before being unable to steer home with the goal gaping.

Pompey started strong after the break but had to wait until the 71st minute to open the scoring.

A Brown free kick landed at the feet of Ben Close and then Bogle fired it into the bottom corner with a shot on the spin.

Lowe made the points safe when he ran at the visitors, fainted one way and another and then finished with a shot into the top corner.