Duncan Barkes

A natural right-footer Swanson has fulfilled every aspect of his duties at left-back with commitment and style.

It means that when Connor Ogilvie is relieved of the responsibility of partnering Regan Paul as a centre-half, Pompey will have not one but two top-flight left-backs fighting for the No.

3 shirt.

So how has Jacob Farrell been faring during February his first full month on loan to Western Sydney Wanderers?

It turns out it's been rather an uphill struggle for him, and his teammates come to that, though Western Sydney had already been struggling in the A-League, and their poor run, meant that they sacked their head coach Alan Sturgesic and assistant head coach Ela Arati Morales, on almost the same day that Farrell touched down down under.

Though he got game time they were not games to remember Western Sydney won only one of their nine games in February until yesterday's match, may or may not have got them back on track, a 4-0 win over MacArthur.

Jacob Farrell played in the game, but appears to her distinguished himself only by picking up a yellow card.

Sydney's new manager is Gary Van Egmont, capped 15 times by Australia in his playing days, but a man who worked his way up to a league management via running a number of women's teams, as did his predecessor, and as did the owner-chairman of Sydney Jefferson Cheng.

Western Sydney currently sit 11th in their league-played 19-1-5-drawn-5-lost-9.

Up at St Johnson Toby Stewart has had to learn how to pick the ball out of the back of the net all over again.

From 16 December he kept six clean sheets in a row but then air put three past them in the Scottish Challenge Cup quarter-final, and yesterday the same team had the audacity to score a league goal against him.

It's beginning to look to many observers as though his loan deal to the club that is opening a towering lead at the top of the Scottish second tier, is going to be one of Pompey's all-time successful loans.

Pompey 0, Hull 1.

Following Pompey the last couple of weeks has been like, I imagine a bungee jump must be.

Where you go down and then you boing and you go up again and then you go down again and you go up.

Not quite as much as the first time you went up and then you go down again.

And it's been like that.

Two absolutely fantastic 3-1 victories on the road against solid sides.

And Sheffield United and Hull had a lot in common.

I don't think we were that much a better team than Hull as we were a better team than Sheffield United, but we didn't deserve to lose it.