Hart defends Pompey tactics

Paul Hart has defended his defensive mantra following vociferous criticism of his tactics during Portsmouth’s 2-2 draw with West Brom at the weekend.

“The situation is difficult but my job is to keep us in the Premier League,” he told The News. “Perhaps we’ve not been exactly sparkling going forward, but in such a short space of time you can’t expect everything to fall into place.

“The Hull game was the first where we haven’t scored and we’ve created chances in all of them. “We went in the bottom three when we hadn’t done much wrong, but the most important thing was to get out of it – and now the crucial thing is to stay out of it. It’s still a perilous situation but overall I’ve enjoyed it so far – even the weight of responsibility that goes with it”.