It wasn't the most convincing win of the season. It wasn't even the most convincing win of the past fortnight. But do we care? Not really.

At this stage. more than ever, points are what's needed and I'm not too sure too many will worry exactly how the remaining ones needed are gathered in.

Pompey did what they needed to do against Newport - just. No more, no less. A goal in each half, a hard-working performance if one lacking in the fluency and numerous chances seen against Colchester and Grimsby, then a brief bit of backs-to-the-wall defending at the end which it hadn't looked like would be needed until County staged a late fightback.

The upshot is a 2-1 win - Pompey's first home success against the old or new Newport Co since 1979 - and six points between Pompey, in third, and Stevenage, in fourth. A quick bit of maths tells you five wins and a draw from the final seven games is the most - presently - that Pompey will need to clinch automatic promotion and avoid, as we all hope to do, the play-offs. Scary.

In fact the gap above Pompey is narrower - they're just four behind Plymouth, who play their game in hand against leaders Doncaster on Sunday.

As a match, it wasn't one that will live long in the memory. In fact, what was I talking about? Oh yes, the match.

Pompey were bright enough from the start, dominating possession with Newport happy to defend in numbers while showing little interest in attacking with intent. They just weren't at their best.

It took until the 42nd minute for Pompey to get the breakthrough - not that there had been too much nervousness eminating from the crowd while it had stayed 0-0.

Carl Baker was the architect of the goal, intercepting a Newport pass, showing a bit of trickery with his feet then playing Kyle Bennett through with a lovely pass. Bennett had time to draw the keeper and pick his moment to slide a finish beneath him. 1-0 for the interval.

The lead was doubled just before the hour mark. Some intricate passing near the Newport box eventually led to Bennett finding Conor Chaplin, who'd worked hard without much luck since replacing groin injury victim Eoin Doyle before the break, and his cross was met by a firm header from Kal Naismith to make it 2-0 - meaning the two in-form players missed at Stevenage last week had both announced their return with goals.

At that point you felt this could turn into Pompey's third 4-0 win in four games, but the Blues' efforts rather petered out.

Newport had shown little ambition - or attacking talent - up to that point but did seem to liven up when two down. Marlon Jackson brought a decent save out of David Forde, who was then beaten with 15 minutes to go when Alex Samuel headed in as Pompey went to sleep from a second ball following a corner.

There was a heart-stopping moment for home fans when Jackson almost took advantage of Tom Davies failing to cut out a long ball, but Forde was out to narrow the angle and gather.

On came Jack Whatmough as Pompey realised they needed to shore up the defence and he did an excellent job in winning header after header to prevent County from creating any further chances.

Four minutes of added-on time brought no further scares - nor any more Pompey chances - and the roar on the whistle was as much one of relief as one of celebration at three more precious points bagged.

So on to Hartlepool it is next week - with Christian Burgess due to return but Eoin Doyle possibly struggling to be fit - and after that we'll be down to half a dozen games left. Could it be plain sailing from here on in? Of course not, this is Pompey innit.

Pompey: Forde; Evans, T.Davies, Clarke, Stevens; Rose, M.Doyle (c); Baker, Bennett (Lowe 71), Naismith (Whatmough 83); E.Doyle (Chaplin 25). Subs not used: O’Brien, Talbot, Linganzi, Hunt

Referee: Tim Robinson

Attendance: 17,364 (322 away fans)

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