Hart happy to end his firefighting

PAUL HART has been forced to play the role of firefighter for much of this tumultuous season, but the Portsmouth manager now finds himself dealing with more trivial concerns.

The most testing scenario that Hart was confronted with on Saturday, after this riotous win, was an enquiry about the mental state of Tommy Smith, who was axed from his line-up for on-loan striker Frederic Piquionne following the striker’s Carling Cup brace against Stoke in midweek.

With all due respect to Smith, that should not cause Hart many sleepless evening this week, especially, as Aruna Dindane scored a hat-trick and Piquionne bagged his first Premier League strike in his absence.