Portsmouth boss hails 'excellent goals' after overcoming potentially tricky Colchester tie

The Blues cruised to a 2-0 EFL Trophy success over the League Two side thanks to two goals from Marcus Harness.

The winger struck twice in as many first-half minutes to set Pompey on their way to yet another victory in a competition in which they are holders and still have another final to play.

It means the Blues have not lost in the EFL Trophy for two years and eight months – with a winning start to this year’s format.

And it represented successive victories since the 2020-21 campaign launched.

Jackett told The News: ‘It was a very solid performance, it’s always nice to win and a good workout for us in terms of our build up for the big kick-off on Saturday.

‘They were two very good goals and we could have had more. I do feel going forward we have been quite potent so far and two excellent goals gave us the edge.

‘I had watched a couple of Colchester’s pre-season games and they played very well against Peterborough and generally have had a good pre-season, so I was never expecting an easy game.

‘In the Carabao Cup there is a high number of Championship clubs who have gone out to lower league teams, so there are hard games.

‘How they moved the ball in the opening 20 minutes, we needed to come to terms with that.

‘I’m pleased to say we did and got a clean sheet in that period and it gave us the platform to try to score some goals.’

Jackett granted debuts to both new full-back arrivals in the victory.

Callum Johnson played at right-back and Cameron Pring at left-back for the full duration of the match.

Now it’s on to Saturday, where the Blues’ League One campaign begins with a home clash against Shrewsbury.

Pompey’s boss added: ‘It has been an usual build up with no fixture on Saturday.

‘We played Stevenage the week before, but similarly because we didn’t play last Saturday wanted to try to get most people out there.

‘That’s as we build up to the game against Shrewsbury.’

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