Pompey Down The Dons

Last updated : 26 April 2016 By Jim Bonner

Pompey have confirmed their place in the League Two play-offs courtesy of a 1-0 win at Kingsmeadow thanks to a Michael Smith strike in the first half.

Gary Roberts robbed Sean Rigg of the ball in midfield before setting up the on-loan Swindon striker to calmly slot past Kelle Roos, although the home fans protested that Roberts had won the ball unfairly.

Wimbledon's best chance of the match came when former Pompey winger Andy Barcham was put through on goal but he dragged his shot wide. Roberts did the same at the other end of the pitch whilst Kal Naismith also had an effort cleared off the line.

In the past Pompey have paid for their wastefulness in front of goal but that wasn't the case tonight as they managed to see out the game and not only confirm a top seven finish, but almost confirm a top six finish too given that tonight's opposition would have to win their last two games and hope the Blues don't win either of theirs to leap them in the table.

Admittedly it was a surprising win given that Neal Ardley's men had won their last five games and the Portsmouth squad has been decimated with injuries.

On top of the casualties known before the match tonight, it was revealed that Conor Chaplin and Matt Clarke have groin injuries but shouldn't be out for long, Marc McNulty has a hamstring problem and may miss the last two games of the regular season whilst Paul Jones picked up a thigh injury during the game and had to be replaced with Brian Murphy.

That's one hell of a list for the treatment table and we can only hope that those players, along with Kyle Bennett and Adam Webster recover quickly enough to be available for the play-offs.

At least this patched up team have proved tonight that they are capable of winning the tougher matches in this division, even if the goalscorer won't be available for two of the most crucial games in Portsmouth's recent history.