Pompey 1 Blackburn 0: Neil Allen's full-time verdict
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00:00Greetings from Cratton Park, where it's been a lovely afternoon hasn't it? It's been a bit nippy, a bit cold, a bit chilly, but who cares?
00:11The game was horrible according to Josh Murphy afterwards, but the result definitely wasn't.
00:17Pompey won, Blackburn 0, huge, huge result, it really was.
00:25Not just the fact that Pompey won, but bearing in mind all the results below them.
00:31Some teams, Luton won today, didn't they? And there were other results as well, Stoke won, didn't they?
00:37And there were some results down there that helped the strugglers and Plymouth got points.
00:42But Pompey needed a win, didn't they? And they got it.
00:46They deserved it as well, just about deserved it.
00:49They weren't good second half Pompey whatsoever, it was scrappy, they couldn't keep possession of the ball, they didn't create that much.
00:57But somebody in the press room, Alex Smith, I'll give him the credit for this, told me this wonderful stat that Blackburn didn't have a shot after the 67th minute.
01:07So if they have trailing 1-0 and didn't have a shot after 67 minutes, it says a lot about them, about the game, and about Pompey defensively really.
01:17Blackburn didn't deserve to win the game, didn't deserve to get a point.
01:21And it's all that matters, isn't it? Pompey winning the games this afternoon, that's it, but that's it.
01:27It wasn't great, I quite enjoyed the first half, as I said, I think it was good tempo, wasn't it? End-to-end.
01:32But neither keeper had a lot to do, but it just doesn't matter, it's just Pompey have to get the results.
01:38And I always thought that Pompey needed two wins to stay up, they've got one of them.
01:43Chatting to Josh Murphy, he thinks they need a couple more, but we'll see.
01:47Derby have got a game in hand, so we'll see how that pans out.
01:54But it's another huge win, isn't it? Pompey, Oxford lost as well.
01:57So, yeah, it wasn't great, but it doesn't matter, Pompey just got to get those points on the board, haven't they?
02:02And as I keep saying, I know there was people saying after the press, and some people saying, oh, Pompey are down, that's it, they're relegating, things like that.
02:09And I said at the time that clubs want to be in Pompey's position, 17th in the league, four points above the relegation zone.
02:16Well, now Pompey are now seven points above the relegation zone, with seven to play.
02:20Still in a really strong position, really strong, isn't it?
02:24And the roar at the final whistle was a bit of relief, and quite right, really, because they have to get these wins.
02:30And yeah, I think overall, everyone's happy. Some good performances today as well.
02:36I gave another match to Josh Murphy, but I did say in my rating, before you moan at me,
02:42that I gave him, because it wasn't his greatest performance, but why I gave it to him is because he provided that moment of magic.
02:49Not many people, not many players had goalscoring opportunities, but Murphy made the most of it.
02:54Murphy was the difference, he was a match winner, he was a hero.
02:57That's why he just narrowly shades it, because Swanson gets the same mark for me, Ogilvy gets the same mark.
03:03I thought Potts had a great game as well, he gets the same mark.
03:06There were some really strong performances there from Pompey.
03:09I had a chat with Swanson afterwards, and what a season he's having, by the way, blimey.
03:16But yes, there's a lot to like about Pompey, individually.
03:20It was a very good team performance, team effort, wasn't it?
03:24The players swarming around Blackburn every time they got the ball, throwing themselves into tackles,
03:30getting bookings from dragging players out as they're trying to break late on,
03:35which they didn't do at Preston, which John Mason was fuming with.
03:38Williams did one, and somebody else got one as well, I can't remember what Potts I think it was, late on.
03:44So Pompey were doing that as well.
03:46So much to like about Pompey today, in other aspects.
03:49Wasn't great, but frankly, who cares?
03:52Seven points above the relegation zone, seven games to play.
03:55That's good for me, so far. Thank you.