Portsmouth 4 Doncaster Rovers 0: Scoreline harsh as Gary McSheffrey rues sloppiness

The home side ran riot after half-time as Reeco Hackett scored before George Hirst made it 2-0 in the 63rd minute.

Aiden O’Brien swept in Ronan Curtis’ cross nine minutes from time before Sean Raggett’s header sealed the rout in stoppage time.

Doncaster had the better of the first half and should have taken the lead when Joe Dodoo somehow did not score after good play from Ben Jackson and Tommy Rowe.

Producing a strong first half before not backing it up in the second 45 minutes has been an unwanted theme for Rovers in recent times.

“I couldn’t see a 4-0 coming after the first half,” said McSheffrey.

“I thought we were the more comfortable team. But you can’t miss golden opportunities when you come to a club like Portsmouth.

“We were brave on the ball. We got a bit sloppy the last 10 minutes of the half, but we were disappointed we weren’t a good two goals ahead when half-time came.

“The second half, we weren’t doing the basics for some reason. We didn’t work hard enough, became a soft touch.

“After the fourth goal, I’ve thought to myself that that’s the only shots they’ve had.

“Our ball retention was bad up front which meant the ball kept coming back.

“We need to stay in games and be braver.”

Portsmouth: Bazunu; Carter, Raggett, Robertson; Harness, Thompson (Ogilvie 83), Jacobs (O’Brien 80), Hackett; Curtis; Walker (Tunnicliffe 67), Hirst. Unused subs: Webber, Hume, Romeo, Jewitt-White.

Doncaster Rovers: Mitchell; Knoyle, Younger, Olowu, Jackson (Agard 70); Smith, Rowe, Gardner; Martin (Barlow 78), Dodoo (Odubeko 60), Griffiths. Unused subs: Jones, Williams, Clayton, Horton.

Referee: T Reeves (Warwickshire).