Kenny Jackett challenges Portsmouth to build on their Bolton victory

Posted Sunday, September 29, 2019 by PA

Kenny Jackett hopes Portsmouth’s 1-0 win at home to bottom club Bolton will kick-start their season.

Brett Pitman went from villain to hero to earn the hard-fought victory by scoring the winner after earlier missing a penalty.

Manager Jackett, whose team were booed off at half-time, said: “I thought we were nervous in the first half.

“I’m pleased to say we came through that in the second half and put on a good performance and deserved to win and could have scored more than one.

“It needs to be now a building block or stepping stone towards the run that we want.

“You can’t just get to full speed a full confidence straight away, it doesn’t always happen that way, you need to persevere with it.”

Jackett reserved special praise for match-winner Pitman, saying: “It was a good performance from Brett Pitman and fully deserving of his man of the match award.

“I thought he led the line very well and I’m pleased with the finish and I must say it was an excellent cross that created it. It’s a collectors’ item Brett missing a penalty.”

Bolton had the better of a dull opening half, with Ali Crawford, Will Buckley and Thibaud Verlinden all going close for the beleaguered visitors.

The home fans became increasingly agitated and took their frustration out on the out-of-sorts Ronan Curtis and Jackett before the winger was replaced.

Pitman wasted the chance to put the hosts in front when he smashed a penalty against a post after John Marquis had been brought down by Jack Hobbs.

The veteran striker made amends by nodding in James Bolton’s pin-point cross with a controlled header back across Remi Matthews.

Bolton manager Keith Hill said: “I wish I had the options off the bench that they do.

“I don’t accept losing, I hate it. I’m relatively pleased with the performance but I want results.

“Ask the Portsmouth supporters if there’s no quick fix, they’re always on to Kenny Jackett and he’s a great manager.

“There’s a lot of experts without expertise in football these days, unfortunately.

“In the first half we played especially well I think we made too many mistakes in the second half defensively, not keeping the ball as well as I expected us to.

“In the first half we’ve got to be more ruthless, that’s the missing ingredient. Who is going to put the ball in the net?

“I believe we’ve let Portsmouth off the hook today, especially in the first half.

“In the second half I can’t argue that they were the better side but over 90 minutes we deserved something from the game.”