Special hat-trick for Colby Bishop as Portsmouth ’embarrass’ Norwich with a 5-3 win to ease relegation fears on Good Friday.
Matt Ritchie and Regan Poole also scored for Pompey, while Josh Sargent, Jack Stacey, and Emiliano Marcondes netted for Norwich.
This second away win in 17 Championship games boosted Portsmouth six points clear of the relegation zone and ended Norwich’s play-off hopes, leaving them 13 points off sixth with three games left.
Norwich City goals – 3
Josh Sargent (21′)
Jack Stacey (64′)
Emiliano Marcondes (90′)
Portsmouth goals – 5
Colby Bishop (15′)
Matt Ritchie (39′)
Colby Bishop (45+3′ pen)
Colby Bishop (52′)
Regan Poole (72′)
Norwich manager Johannes Hoff Thorup speaking to BBC Radio Norfolk: “Based on the game, it is fair we didn’t win it. There were many things defensively we didn’t get right.
“It comes down to preparation and being ready for what your opponent brings to a game and we didn’t match that at all.
“I had the feeling that every time they brought the ball forward it could be a chance or a goal against.
“We have to look at that; it is definitely a weakness. It is simple situations we struggle to deal with.
“I hate when you have to talk about desire in a football player but I think there was a difference in that today. Portsmouth had more at stake and was willing to throw their bodies in front of the ball.
“I don’t think we matched them and that was one of the messages at half time. It seemed like the simple things were difficult today.”
Thorup, per Sky Sports:
“All of us are sorry for this performance. It pains me to say it but I thought Portsmouth showed more desire than we did today.
“You are always going to find it difficult if you defend like we did – every time they put a cross into the box it seemed to cause us problems.
“At times we are so easy to play against – too often there was no purpose in our passing, we were not hard enough when we needed to be hard.”
Portsmouth manager John Mousinho speaking to BBC Radio Solent: “It hasn’t quite sunk in yet. It was quite a stressful 90 minutes for me.
“Even at 5-2 up with eight minutes to go, I still didn’t feel secure, probably because of the position we are in. I am delighted and once it sinks in, I’ll be more pleased but we’ve got to go again tomorrow and make sure we are focussed again for Monday.
“We spoke before about putting it all together. We’ve done it in patches in games but not consistent enough. We do deserve to be in the Championship and we’ve mixed it with every team here.
“The next stage is making sure we do it more often.”
Mousinho, Sky Sports: “Nothing is done until it’s done.
“It was a massive three points for us today, no doubt about that, but we won’t say we are safe until it is mathematically certain.
“On a number of occasions recently we have had good result and have not been able to follow it up so we have to make sure we a ready to go again against Watford on Monday.”
Pompey’s Colby Bishop, who ensured that he reached double figures in a campaign that only begun in November following heart surgery in the summer, said: “You go to bed the night before and dream about scoring a hat-trick. You’ve got to soak it all in because that doesn’t happen often.
“It’s my first one for Pompey – but hopefully not the last. It was just a great day and I’m delighted for the fans.
“They do some serious miles to follow us around the country and have had their fair share of disappointment, so they deserve it.
“People miss penalties and that’s unfortunately just part of life, but I always back myself to put away the next one.
“If I could get that kind of service every week it would be amazing because I love those crosses into the box.
“That’s 10 goals, which is great, but I don’t want to stop there. We’ve still got a few games, so let’s see what I can do.”
Bishop said: “We’ve been waiting for that for a long time and it’s been frustrating because we know how good we can be.
“To finally show that we can go away and beat good teams is something that we’re absolutely delighted about.
“We just played with a bit more freedom. There are some talented boys in this side and when we get it right, there aren’t too many who can handle them.
“So we need to take that confidence into every game because some of the football that we played was excellent.”
Norwich’s Jack Stacey said, per The Pink ‘Un: “Embarrassing. Disappointing. They were the words that were being used in the changing room.
“To be honest, I think I would have the exact same opinion if I was watching that from the outside and you look at the result and performance and it looks like there’s nothing for us to play for.
“As an individual player, you shouldn’t have to have something external to fight for in order to give 100pc on the pitch.
“We should be playing 100pc every game for ourselves, for the fans, teammates, and I think having something to fight for shouldn’t ever come into it when you’re playing a game.
“I personally don’t think (they’ve downed tools), but if you look at the game and you look at the result, I think I could see how people would come to that conclusion.
“We want to win every game at home, and to have teams come here and score five goals is just not good enough.
“As an individual, you have to always give 100%. It doesn’t matter what the external factor is around that, and I hope we can show that on Monday,” he said.
“You have to have something more than just. If you’re not playing for promotion, then you’re not going to give everything.
“It has to be something from within yourselves and play for something bigger because we don’t want to put out any more performances like we did today.”
Twitter users reacted after a special hat-trick for Colby Bishop as Portsmouth ’embarrass’ Norwich with a 5-3 win…
@Outlaw_Tweets: Best player to wear the shirt in my 6 years of having a season ticket, it was about time 💙 Too many times the man got subbed off after bagging two ⚽️⚽️
@swattz: That’s the best Easter egg that he could have asked for 💙
@tjhooker1151: What a day. Based on our for I didn’t see us getting anything today. I thought a pasting was likely, but I didn’t think it would be us doing the pasting (notwithstanding a couple of defensive faux pars making it look like Norwich were better than they were). We needed this #PUP
@BlueArmyAlex: Jesus isn’t the only thing rising this weekend
@andymp345: Get in just frustrating that we never can turn up like that all season played some of our best football today can start look to next season now and do think no reason not too lol at play offs next season
@InitPfc: I fucking love my football club
@crhhrc16: Completely different note, Portsmouth fans were probably the best we’ve had at CR all season. Loud literally all game, fair play to them #ncfc
@TheHolteHub: Oh Pompey 💙
@daniel_tortoise: One of the worst performances I’ve ever seen us put in at home, nothing short of absolutely embarrassing and really should be a sackable offence. This project has failed, Thorup is out of his depth and only taking us one way if given next season.
@Melissa97684853: Bin thorup off, let Wilshere have the last 3 games for a laugh, then get someone in May and clear out the deadwood, Duffy, Long, Hernandez can go play in the Thurlow Nunn leagues
@ncfc_Tyler: We scored 3 goals at home and still lost
@holland_dan: It hurts to say but unless the last 3 matches are any different we must accept the mistake and let JHT go. To keep him for next season is a massive gamble that could result in relegation just as much as promotion. I’d take Russ right now. #ncfc
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