Town boss Paul Jewell was pleased with his side’s resilience if not their overall performance during Tuesday's 1-0 victory over Portsmouth. Keith Andrews's second half goal saw the Blues to a fortunate win and up into the play-off places.

Jewell said: “We were throwing ourselves at shots and they’ve had numerous corners. We’ve done all right against them because they’re a big strong team and we’re not the biggest team in the world.

“Credit to our lads where credit is due regarding resilience, it wasn’t the greatest performance by any stretch of the imagination, but I was really pleased with the result.”

The Blues boss says he withdrew Jason Scotland at half-time as he thought he wasn’t quite his usual self: “I just thought he looked a little bit flat.

“He’s been carrying a tight hamstring but he just looked a little bit flat tonight. There was no other reason than that.”

Scotland is one of a number of players in Jewell’s now familiar starting line-up over 30 but the Town manager doesn’t think this is a huge issue, although he says he will keep an eye on the situation with games coming thick and fast: “When I look back on the team we had at Bradford that won promotion with Dean Saunders, Peter Beagrie, Dean Windass, Stuart McCall, John Dreyer and Gary Walsh they just wanted to play matches.

“When I used to say to them to have a couple of days off they wouldn’t because they thought it was a sign of weakness.

“I think players feel tired and they get injured when they’re losing games. But I’ll have to monitor that situation closely because we have got a few 30-somethings.

“If I think people are looking a bit tired or a bit jaded, whether they’re a 30-something or a 20-something, then I might rest them.”

Asked about Nathan Ellington’s knock-down for Keith Andrews’s winning goal, Jewell felt there was an element of good fortune: “I think he was heading it for the net, he’s got a head like a sheriff’s badge!

Pompey caretaker-manager Guy Whittingham thought former Blues skipper David Norris did well on his return to Portman Road: “It’s always hard as a player when you go back to an old club, I’ve done it a couple of times myself. I think he coped with that side of the game well.

“People here know what sort of player he is and he’s doing exactly the same for us, which is great for us now.”

Photo: Action Images

suffolkpoker added 09:35 - Oct 19 interesting about scotland, i wonder if he will change the team by choice rather than injury, even though we are still undefeated in 6.
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northdevonblue added 10:07 - Oct 19 Time to freshen up the line up, why wait for a defeat before doing it, massive credit to the starting line up but we have a good squad lets use it.
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northstand78 added 10:08 - Oct 19 "he's got a head like a sheriff's badge!" Absolutely priceless...
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northdevonblue added 10:15 - Oct 19 Can anyone tell me what sort of reception Norris got last night? hope it was positive
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Mark added 10:57 - Oct 19 I don't think we should change the starting line up or formation, as it's getting us results and can easily be changed with all the options we have on the bench. I trust Jewell to know what he is doing though and it is so refreshing after the constant team changes we endured for the previous couple of seasons. Norris was mainly applauded last night with a few boos mixed in. I did neither and kept quiet. I understand him taking a better contract elsewhere in some ways, but as an Ipswich fan I didn't feel like applauding someone who chose to leave Ipswich for another club on the basis of money rather than football.

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irishtim added 11:09 - Oct 19 maybe it was better to take jason off especially if his hamstring was bothering him he should be good & fresh for palace game
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Back_The_Boss added 11:55 - Oct 19 Although we didnt play well, we gound out a result and come the end of the season it could be those three points that get us into the play-offs.
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irishtim added 12:13 - Oct 19 hopefully those three points get us top 2 back the boss
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Phlooky added 12:14 - Oct 19 If you were offered better money Mark for whatever job you do (or did), would you turn it down? After all, Ipswich could have given Norris the deal he was after.
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blue_em_away added 12:21 - Oct 19 ^^^^^^ PJ did not want norris, thats why he was not given the contract he wanted. Ok with me.
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DiamondGezzer added 12:35 - Oct 19 A head like a sheriff's badge, nearly as good as, a face like a bulldog chewing a wasp ! Love it !
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captaincrunch added 12:52 - Oct 19 I don't think it is a good comparison to look at the jobs we (the ordinary public) might do and the jobs these highly paid footballers do. Whilst we may take a higher paid job (which we may or may not enjoy as much) simply because we can barely afford our bills, these guys can easily afford them and in taking a higher paid contract elsewhere, they are being greedy. That is not to mention that the jobs most of us are doing are not enjoyable whereas Norris' is a dream job for many. He was at the time one of our more popular players and playing a sport he loves for a living; who would not enjoy that? Having said all that, once you have excess money, the greed kicks in and we have seen it before where the more money somebody has, the more greedy they can become. Having said all that I do not really blame him for moving and we are not any worse off. I was worried when we lost McAuley and Norris but looking at the team now, we are so much better. We have a nice run of games coming up now and I can really see us in the top 2 in the next couple of months if we play well as we have been up until the Portsmouth game. We may have won but we know the performance wasn't the best.

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Lovetown added 13:06 - Oct 19 Yay! Common Town! Better win on Saturday!My first game for a couple of months! We probably won't but still nice to see all the winning new boys! Still showing THAT PJ is probably our best Manger we've had for a long long time! But it will show when we get to December/January time. Still very impressed with our form, more impressed he doesn't change the team!
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nitroblue1970 added 13:06 - Oct 19 Last night was a great result for us considering that we were not quite up to the standard we have been of late...more to do with Pompeys physicality and effort in midfield not letting us play the passing we game we all enjoy! ... I think Jason needs a rest for saturday, put Ellington in from the start and see what he can do, change him for Jason later. Ingarmarrson may get his chanceSsaturday although Delaney did Ok when he came on. Palace are a different proposition and their style of play will better suit Town I think as long as we raise our game above last nights performance. I really think Palace are there to be beaten, they struggled last night against a very poor Bristol side who are relegation bound I feel. 3 points a must for this one if we really are going to be promotion contenders! COYB!!!

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irishtim added 13:30 - Oct 19 palace have really improved tis season good manager hope we get the 3pts. is garvan getting any game ? or is his career coming to a halt? always thought he had potential
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jas0999 added 20:02 - Oct 19 Very poor last night - but we won - so that's great news! If we want to encourage folk to pay £33.00 per ticket though we must play much better than that. The good news though is that PJ knows it.
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churchmans added 21:32 - Oct 19 £33.00 a ticket is a STING thats why we got under 18,000 last night if we get top watch the crowds come back! how great would it be to see 29,000 30,000 fans at PR every home game
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bobble added 21:43 - Oct 19 i have come to the realisation that our reliance on resilience will not be relinquished . because i am a realist i realise that it is realistic to expect us to win this league.
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