Ian Darke lauds ‘full pelt’ Matt Ritchie for Portsmouth leadership
Matt Ritchie is the man pulling up his Portsmouth teammates to maintain the standards needed for Championship survival, according to Ian Darke.
The local lad returned to the club with whom he made his professional debut in the Premier League back in 2010, now a senior leader in the dressing room in the Championship.
Now 35, Ritchie’s free transfer from Newcastle United was for a while criticised by some fans as a sentiment signing, but his impact of late on the side has been integral.
“I think he’s very important. He looks fitter and sharper than when he first arrived at the club, and you can tell he wears his heart on his sleeve,” TV commentator and Blues fan Darke exclusively told Pompey News.
“You can hear him, even in a full, noisy stadium – bawling at the other players around him to keep up that intensity, to keep up the press. I think he’s important when he’s dragging everyone up by their bootlaces to keep up the kind of level they’ll need to even have a chance of staying up.
“What says it all is when you see him at 35, sprinting 80 yards back at full pelt to get back in position when opponents try and develop attacks.”
Matt Ritchie key to Portsmouth survival
Ritchie was the man to make the most honest admission yet on the predicament in which Portsmouth find themselves, claiming “no one will do it for us”.
The leadership his relatively illustrious career brings to the dressing room is key in a squad full of inexperienced players at Championship level.
Ritchie opened the scoring on Saturday [30 November] for his first-ever goal for his hometown club, putting Pompey ahead at Swansea City in a game eventually drawn 2-2.
In other Portsmouth news, a potential revival of the interest in another Australian defender.
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