Pompey 1 Hartlepool 0: One step in right direction - more needed
Saturday, 7th Feb 2015 18:52 by Steve Bone at Fratton Park

We waited 77 days for another win, so was it worth it? Well this was no classic, not even an average advert for League Two football. But yes, it was worth it.

Has the phrase ‘never mind the quality’ ever applied more than it did to this tussle with Hartlepool? Without a victory since November 22 (remember those days when our home form was pretty good…?) the Blues just needed the three points. It didn’t matter if it was 1-0 or 6-0, exciting or dour. And that was probably a good job too.

Defeat, or even a draw, the latter of which was beginning to look a possibility before Matt Tubbs’ brilliant headed finish for his first Pompey goal, would simply not have been good enough in this one — especially after Blues fans had seen how poor Hartlepool were.

Happily, we don’t have to dissect another failure to win or debate whether it’s now time for Andy Awford to be relieved of his duties because Pompey did what they had to do. And as 1-0 wins go, it ended up being a quite comfortable one — with the visitors managing no more than a couple of goalmouth scrambles and failing to test Paul Jones with anything too serious.

Pompey deserved the win; you’d struggle to argue with that. They started at a decent tempo, lost their way a little without ever allowing Hartlepool to take charge, then came again in the second half, plugging away until they got the breakthtough and then looking for a second until it was time to play out time.

Of course we need to keep this win in perspective. It is, after all, a long-overdue result that in itself means little. Added to last week’s creditable 0-0 draw at Wycombe, it has to prove a springboard to brighter times and to a decent little run of positive results.

There are still five more games to come in February and three of them are at home. From visits to Fratton by Exeter, Tranmere and Oxford, plus away games at Dagenham & Redbridge (this Tuesday) and Cambridge, something like 10 points has to be the aim. Three wins, one draw, one defeat. After the recent barren run, I wouldn’t think too many would baulk at that.

Pompey’s eighth league win of the season has lifted them two places to 16th — their tally of 33 points is five better than 23rd-placed York’s, which is a nicer-looking bit of daylight than we had been able to call our own. A return of 10 points from those next five games would probably move the Blues up to 12th, or possibly a little better, and would surely erase any worries about involvement in the 2015-16 Conference — even if most fans will probably think a surge for the play-offs does look beyond us.

A lot will depend on Tubbs’ ability to turn one goal into many. He’s waited longer than he would have liked for his first in a Pompey shirt, although fans had seen plenty of signs from him in previous games that he is an intelligent player who, given chances, will put the ball away. Having gone so close to opening his account against Wycombe, it was perhaps inevitable he would finally get under way in this game, an excellent finish to glance in a Ryan Taylor cross from the left.

He might have had more than one but for a couple of heavy first touches, or desperate defender’s boots diverting the ball away from him when well-placed. If Tubbs can get 10 goals between now and the end of the season, he will have repaid the faith Awford has shown in recruiting him and it will whet appetites for what he might do next season. Taylor looks the best bet as his forward partner so far, and can be pleased with his efforts against Ronnie Moore’s side when he won plenty of high balls to open up possibilities for Tubbs.

Pompey did lack width at times going forward, though young Josh Passley had his fair share of forays forward down the right and looks capable of proving the best of the many players the Blues have tried at right-back (or right wing-back) this season. Dan Butler had a solid game as left wing-back, too, but despite the return of four points from two games with the 3-5-2 system, the debate will go on about whether Awford would be better off with 4-4-2.

Danny Hollands was another player to fare well here, though he is still not showing the levels he did when he came in on loan last spring. Had his sweetly-hit volley from 20 yards in the dying stages dipped more quickly and gone in, it wouldn’t have flattered Pompey. But he and James Dunne never quite took the midfield by the scruff of the neck and played too many basic passes to Hartlepool feet — something in which they were not alone in the Pompey ranks.

At the back, Pompey would be first to admit this was not one of their stiffest tests. Jack Whatmough — Pompey’s man of the match for me - was the best of the three central defenders, winning challenges and using the ball sensibly when in possession. Paul Robinson and Joe Devera each got a head or a boot in the way when needed.

Hartlepool look a doomed team. They weren’t short of effort but were woefully shy of quality and even an experienced lower-league boss like Ronnie Moore will struggle to keep them up. At least that should mean the Conference gets greater coverage than ever before from Jeff and the boys on Sky next season.

Pool’s limitations mean no-one at Fratton Park will get carried away by this win. Much-needed it was, and something to be pleased with and celebrated it is, but it’s what it might lead to that is important. Starting in east London in midweek, we will soon find out.

Pompey: Jones; Devera, Robinson, Whatmough; Passley, Dunne, Wallace, Hollands, Butler; Tubbs (Chaplin 90+3), Taylor. Subs not used: Poke, Webster, Ertl, Atangana, Barcham, Westcarr.

Referee: Graham Horwood

Attendance: 14,397 (183 away fans)