Curtis’ double downs Dale as Pompey come out on top

Pompey comfortably picked up their second away win of the season with a 3-0 victory against Rochdale.

Winger Ronan Curtis put Portsmouth 2-0 to the good after two emphatic finishes either side of half-time. Ryan Williams scored his first for the club late on to put the game to bed, wrapping up the three points in the process.

The home side have now lost each of their last five games, with their last victory in the league coming against fellow strugglers MK Dons in October. 

Questions are still being asked about whether Portsmouth boss Kenny Jackett is the right man to take the club forward after a relatively poor start to the campaign. However, his side have picked up 11 points from a possible 15 in their last five games. Jackett’s men climb back into the top half of the table, where they sit just five points off the play-off places. 

Both teams went into this one hoping for the best. Portsmouth were looking to continue their patch of decent form and Rochdale were looking to find some. 

It was the away side which started the brighter and were in front after just 15 minutes. The in-form Curtis finished off a fine Pompey move after striker John Marquis put the ball into a dangerous area. The Irishman ventured inside from the left and struck the ball sweetly past Dale keeper Robert Sanchez.

Assistant manager Joe Gallen was full of praise for John Marquis as well as Ronan Curtis who continued his fine form on the road.  

“Brilliant natural ability from John where he’s got on the half-turn and he’s swivelled and taken a few of their players out of the game. 

“And we’ve ended up pulling the cross back. We are always saying for our forward players to be in box, between the posts.

“It’s Ronan coming off the left onto his right foot. He’s on form at the moment and he made it look easy – when it wasn’t. A very good one touch finish.”

It was probably harsh on the home side as the Pompey took the lead from their first meaningful attack. It wasn’t long though before the Dale started to threaten and almost equalised soon after. An inviting ball into the Portsmouth box from midfielder Aaron Morley was almost flicked into the back of the net by Rekeil Pyke, only for it to cannon back off the woodwork. 

The Blues soon capitalised on Rochdale’s misfortune where, shortly after the restart, Curtis drilled the ball into the bottom corner. A hopeful ball into the box from winger Ryan Williams found Curtis just inside the area, the winger hit the ball first time across Sanchez to double the visitors’ lead.

And Australian international Ryan Williams capped off a fine day at the office for Pompey after a counter-attack saw him and Brett Pitman bearing down on goal. The experienced Pitman squared the ball to Williams who made no mistake from eight-yards ensuring the fans that made the trip would go back down south happy.