Pompey Breeze past Walsall to Retain Top Spot

The Blues put in a solid performance against a spirited Walsall on Tuesday night to take the south coast team to four points clear at the top of League One.

Goals from Hawkins in the first half, and a second from Ronan Curtis shortly after half-time moved Pompey further away from the chasing pack of teams occupying the top spaces in the league.

Pompey eased past The Saddlers with little struggle, looking the more dominant team throughout much of the game. Walsall looked to push back following Pompey’s second goal of the evening, with periods of sustained attacking play, but never looked like causing MacGillivray in the Pompey goal much trouble.

Man of the match performance came from the inform Ben Thompson, who again covered much of the pitch attacking and breaking up play throughout the contest.

Speaking with Portsmouth FC media, Manager Kenny Jackett said: “It was an excellent clean sheet and I felt that if we negated them, then we would have opportunities and goals.

“It’s about getting your timings right and making sure you’re not offside, so we can get people who can finish into good positions.

“Perhaps we should have scored more, but in the end I’m delighted with the result and we deserved the win.”