Duncan Barkes

And just because Miloslav Kloss decided that he didn't want to carry on working with him doesn't mean to say that there isn't something there that John Massino and Rich Hughes and the rest of the guys can cultivate.

So as we head towards January, there at least is one sort of name in the frame, as Brucey used to put it.

Pompey 2, Blackburn 1.

On a personal note, this report's a little bit later than normal, and that's because it's my birthday.

And, of course, I haven't had a better birthday present than that result and performance since I got a second-hand racing bike when I was 14.

Staying on a personal note just for a few seconds longer, one of the drawbacks of having a birthday close to Christmas...

is that one or two cheapskate relatives give you what they call a combined Christmas and birthday present.

And they try to imply that if you look at the value of the present, it is what the value of two separate presents, a Christmas present and a birthday present, would have been.

But it never was.

It was just one present and they had economised.

Now, all I'm saying, the only reason I'm mentioning that is because I don't want that result to me, just for me, to be a combined Christmas and birthday present.

I want a second present on or around Christmas Day.

Well, it was a good result, wasn't it?

And it was a good performance.

The first 20 minutes, we looked like what John Massino has described as the good team that we're capable of being.

Or is the word decent?

Decent, I think, is the exact word he may have used.

But he pointed out that when we're not on song, then we're not a decent side.

And I think that is a very good analysis of the Pompey that we have at the moment.

Capable of being a good side, a decent side.