Who's in driving seat for second in League One - Barnsley, Sunderland or Pompey? Kenny has the answe Sunday, 14th Apr 2019 21:59 by pompey-fans.com staff Kenny Jackett says there so little between Barnsley, Sunderland and his Pompey team in the race for an automatic promotion spot, it's wrong to say anyone is in control. Strangely, both Sunderland and Pompey know that if they win all their games they will grab second, but that's because they have to play each other, in a huge game at the Stadium of Light a week before the end of the season. Pompey did their hopes no harm at all with a 4-1 Fratton win over Rochdale, the goals coming from Oli Hawkins, Brett Pitman, Gareth Evans and Jamal Lowe - two in each half. Jackett told the club website afterwards: 'The table looks incredibly open between four teams and it’s close — I wouldn’t say that anyone is particularly in the driving seat. Along with Sunderland we’re a place behind Barnsley with a game in hand and you have to say that Charlton are in there as well. 'We have to keep pushing and trying, with an attitude like the one we showed against Rochdale able to help us. It’s nice to have form at any time of the season, but it always helps if you can put together a sprint finish.' Jackett said of the display that saw off Dale: 'We’re really pleased with the performance and how our players responded to the pressure. You could see from Rochdale’s attacking formation that they didn’t come here to defend — they wanted to take the game to us, which suited us to a degree. 'They’re fighting for their lives down at the bottom, have changed their manager and been on a decent recent run. While we had to contain that, you also have to use the opportunities to hurt them and we managed to score four goals. 'When the ball turns over and there are spaces, we have the quality to exploit them and had a great answer to their threat.' Pompey go to Burton on Good Friday and host Coventry on Easter Monday. Pompey (4-2-3-1): MacGillivray; Thompson, Burgess, Clarke, Brown; Naylor, Close; Lowe, Pitman (c) (Morris 82), Curtis (Evans 57); Hawkins (Bogle 76). Subs not used: Bass, Walkes, Haunstrup, Dennis Referee: Lee Swabey Attendance: 18,197 (188 away fans)
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