Blues boss Paul Jewell was delighted with his side’s third successive victory, Town leaving Fratton Park with a 1-0 victory over Portsmouth. Pompey manager Michael Appleton admitted his team were second best but believed his side had scored a second-half equaliser when Jay Emmanuel-Thomas’s knee diverted Greg Halford’s long throw into the Blues’ net.
Jewell said: "We’ve played well tonight, we’ve created a host of opportunities. They played well at our place and we were fortunate to beat them, I thought they were one of the better teams to come to Ipswich and we nicked the result there. But tonight I thought we fully deserved it.
"I think before we scored we had three good opportunities. In the second half, Lee’s hit the inside of the post, he’s missed a really good opportunity, the keeper’s made a good save from Murph and you start thinking that we should be comfortable here.
"At the end they had four centre-forwards on the pitch, they were knocking it in the box from throw-ins and corners and we had to defend resolutely.
"We maybe had a little bit of fortune with their ‘goal’ but in general play anyone who was at the game will have thought we deserved to win.”
The Liverpudlian confirmed that referee Darren Deadman had adjudged that no one had touched Halford’s long throw: "That’s what the referee said. One or two people are saying it came off someone’s knee. Over the season sometimes you get it, sometimes you don’t.
"Not so long ago I was lambasting the linesperson’s decision at Birmingham, but on the balance of play, I thought we fully deserved it. On paper it’s a 1-0 but we could have scored four or five.”
The Blues boss was pleased with the way his team began what he felt could have been a tricky night: "It’s a difficult night to come here with everything that’s going on at this football club. It’s obviously a tough time for everybody connected to it, especially the supporters.
"We knew they would be as one, they’d back their team and we’d have to start quickly. We didn’t want them to get any momentum.
"We started the game very fast and very sharp and the goal was the least we deserved. We hit the bar, the keeper made a couple of saves and we had good opportunities.
"After that, for 10 minutes we let them back in the game, but overall, for an away performance, some of our counter-attacking football was terrific.”
Jewell, who also had praise for central defensive pair Tommy Smith and Damien Delaney, says his side have looked more dangerous going forward in recent weeks: "In the last four or five games we’ve looked a threat. We’ve got in the final third and we’ve got a cross or a shot in and made the keeper make a save.
"We look like we’re going to score a goal. Chops has found a bit of form, Lee Martin’s playing as well as he’s ever done. Jay Emmanuel-Thomas is looking the part and I thought Daryl Murphy was terrific tonight. That front four, our attacking players, have all looked dangerous.”
After the game around 2,000 Pompey fans from the Fratton End stayed behind to chant their support of the club and their anger at the various recent owners with the club set to go into administration in the next few days.
Jewell said the Blues players were paying tribute during their warm-down and he planned to do the same: "They’re brilliant. The players are out there applauding them and I’ll probably go out there and applaud them myself.
"Football clubs are about fans and sometimes they get a raw deal and Portsmouth have probably had a raw deal over the last few years. Supporters are the heartbeat of a football club.
"Rangers have gone into administration and it looks like Portsmouth are. It’s a lesson for football - it’s got to keep its house in order.
"Supporters sometimes want people to spend money they haven’t got and in the end it can lead to situations like we’ve got now.”
Pompey boss Michael Appleton says the video clearly shows that Halford’s throw caught Jay Emmanuel-Thomas before hitting the net and his side ought to have had an equaliser: "Basically, Emmanuel-Thomas knees the ball into his own goal. I thought it was a goal right away because the ball’s changed angle as it’s gone into the back of the net.
"The referee thought Halford threw it straight in, it wasn’t for a foul or anything like that. That’s disappointing and the boy knew as well, you could see on his face he knew he’d scored an own goal.
"But, did we do enough really to win the game or get something out of the game, if we really look deep down at ourselves? Probably not. It was a night when it didn’t really happen for us. I don’t know why.”