Pompey boss Kenny Jackett hails match-winner Ronan Curtis

Kenny Jackett praised the “quality” of striker Ronan Curtis after his superb strike earned table-topping Portsmouth a 1-0 win at Coventry.

The summer signing from Derry City brought the flash of inspiration that separated the sides in first-half stoppage-time.

Pompey are now unbeaten in 11 Sky Bet League One matches, and Jackett said: “There was a minimal amount of chances in the game and Ronan Curtis showed some excellent quality to get what turned out to be the winner.

“Despite Coventry having plenty of possession in the second period I can’t remember them having a shot, while we had two good strikes through Ben Thompson and Jamal Lowe, who was unlucky not to score at the end.

“Clean sheets are really important, especially away from home, and we then have confidence that we have players who score goals.

“We’ve got 27 points now on October 2 and that’s down to the players. We have to keep working hard as tonight showed when we needed to concentrate, commit and support each other.

“You’re always looking for a top-six spot and hoping that leads you to one of the three promotion places. The majority of managers in the league would say that at the start of the year and we’re no different.”

Curtis’ clincher came from outside the area courtesy of a sweetly-struck, right-footed strike.

Coventry boss Mark Robins said his team had paid the penalty for not creating enough.

“I’m disappointed because we’ve had to change the back four around again. We lost Dominic Hyam to concussion and then became a really young back four.

“The first half was a case of cancelling each other out a little bit.

“We had a great chance and missed it. They had a really good chance and scored it, and that was the difference at the end of the night and why they are top of the league.

“We started to look like we were building up a head of steam. We tried to make positive changes to get us moving forward. The crowd started to lift but it just fizzled out, which was disappointing.

“Overall there were not enough chances created and the chances we did create we should have taken and didn’t, and that proved costly at the end of the night.”