Hart `delighted' as Pompey prevail - 7M sport

Hart `delighted' as Pompey prevail

Posted Tuesday, September 22, 2009 by PA

Portsmouth manager Paul Hart was not just relieved but delighted with his side's 3-1 win over Carlisle in the Carling Cup - and insisted his team are showing form that suggests their perilous Premier League position is false.

The visitors overcame an early scare at Brunton Park to seal a victory which brings them welcome respite from the record-breaking run of six defeats with which they have opened their Barclays Premier League campaign.

Hart's job looked to be on the line when Ian Harte stepped up in the second minute to give the League One side the lead from the penalty spot.

But Aruna Dindane, Danny Webber and Anthony Vanden Borre all scored their first goals for Pompey who recovered well to run out comfortable winners.

The performance included some encouraging passages of attacking play, and Hart believes there is plenty to be optimistic about as Portsmouth looks to end their appalling sequence of league results.

"I was delighted to be honest," Hart said.

"Lower-league clubs are never easy and you have to go about it in the right way. We got off to a bad start - you probably expected the worst at that point. But we rallied well and came back very strongly.

"There's nothing like winning, and it doesn't half make you feel better.

"It's not as if we are playing badly. We had something like seven changes tonight, and four people cup-tied.

"If the second-half performance against Aston Villa and the whole performance against Bolton Wanderers was anything to go by - well, we made mistakes, but there are an awful lot of good things as well."

Hart conceded that the way the game started had been alarming but said he had not been worried about his side's ability to respond to their early setback.

"I would be lying if I said I was delighted with the opening three minutes but I knew that in our front players we had enough to get goals," he said.

"I thought John Utaka did very well. As long as we didn't give another one away, I was always confident that we would score."

Hart was keen to praise the efforts of the opposition, who have struggled to ignite their own season and currently lie 17th in League One.

"I thought Carlisle did extremely well and it's a credit to the manager for the way that they played," said Hart.

"They caused us lots of problems, and hopefully like us, they can take it into their league form. They had a number of players who played extremely well."

Having watched Portsmouth deal with his team in a clinical fashion, Carlisle manager Greg Abbott said he felt that Portsmouth had enough about them to lift themselves out of their current predicament.

"It's tough to say because the Premier League is so different in terms of quality from our level, with the amount of finances involved," Abbott said.

"But they looked a good side, didn't they? A lot of pace, a lot of power.

"I think defensively they look like they might have problems, although I don't think that was their first-choice back four.

"But certainly going forward, they seem to have a lot of options and a lot of attacking ideas.

"I think if they can be collective and stay together and defend well and properly, keeping as many clean sheets as possible - and Paul will work on that - then they have a chance.

"We wish them all the best. They didn't come here with any arrogance or attitude. They have come here as a Premier League side off the back of a bad run and done a very, very professional job. Good luck to them."

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