Portsmouth’s Oliver Hawkins backed to kick on and score more after breaking duck - 7M sport

Portsmouth’s Oliver Hawkins backed to kick on and score more after breaking duck



Posted Sunday, September 16, 2018 by PA

Portsmouth’s Oliver Hawkins backed to kick on and score more after breaking duck

A crucial goal in a top-of-the-table League One clash needs to be the first of many for Oliver Hawkins, according to Portsmouth assistant manager Joe Gallen.

Striker Hawkins finally hit the back of the net in his ninth match this season as he and Jamal Lowe sent Pompey above opponents Peterborough to the top of the division with a 2-1 away win.

Gallen said: “The goal has been a long time coming. He’s a number nine and had not scored yet, but his contribution has been very good so far.

“His job is to come up with some goals. We’ve been telling him that this week. Thankfully he had the look today the he probably could score. Last week he didn’t.

“He is playing well for the team and setting up goals, but you have to hit the net as well. We are looking for him to kick on now and score some more.”

Gallen refused to get carried away with the victory, but said the supporters clearly feel promotion is possible this season.

He added : “I thought we deserved the win

“Our defenders played very well and won a lot of headers. I thought we had a bit more on the ball, you can see that in the first goal.

“We are disappointed with the end. We needed to kill the game a bit more and manage it as well as we could, but it’s a great three points against a team that had not lost.

“We have a lot to do, but we can sense from the fans the belief is forming. You can’t fool the fans.”

The assists for both Portsmouth goals came from Ronan Curtis, who was back in the side having missed the draw with Shrewsbury following a call-up by the Republic of Ireland.

Matt Godden’s seventh league goal of the season, coming four minutes into stoppage time, could not prevent Peterborough losing both their unbeaten start to the season and first place in the division.

The game attracted a crowd of more than 10,000, which was Posh’s largest for 18 months, and manager Steve Evans hopes the fans will be back despite watching his side suffer a “deserved” defeat.

Evans said:  “There was nothing in the game for 60 minutes. It was very competitive. They probably had more composure on the ball first half.

“I thought we started the second half better, but we made two or three errors. The boy had a free header to put them in front.

“One of our lads makes a big error (for the second goal). If you make a big error you get punished.

“It looks a mountain from there but we got one goal back and (Siriki) Dembele should score. They did not make errors at the end and did not get punished.

“Portsmouth deserved to win. But the big crowds will be back because we are a good side. We did not play well and we lost by the smallest of margins against a team with a big budget and fanbase.

“We were beaten because of individual errors, but we were not outclassed.”

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