Danny Cowley believes Portsmouth's victory over Bolton is their most important three points so far this season and they beat a 'very good' Wanderers side which had 'hardly any' shots in their box.
Wanderers grew into the game in the first half at Fratton Park and ought to have led at the break but Dapo Afolayan's effort was tipped onto the bar by Gavin Bazunu, while Declan John struck the outside of the post.
But Pompey took the lead early in the second half when John Marquis's flicked effort looped over Wanderers stopper Joel Dixon, off the bar and over the line, despite the Wanderers stopper clawing away the loose ball.
READ MORE: Bolton Wanderers boss Ian Evatt on Portsmouth loss, lack of attacking substitutes and Joel Dixon
Wanderers are now 14th in the table, while Pompey leapfrog them and are now 13th in the third tier of English football.
After the game and the 4-0 thrashing they suffered the last time they played at Fratton Park at the hands of Ipswich Town, Cowley labelled the victory Pompey's most important of the campaign so far.
He believes Wanderers are a 'very good' team but was pleased his side restricted Ian Evatt's men to a lack of opportunites in the box.
Cowley told the Portsmouth News : "We will be more free flowing than probably what we were against Bolton, but probably they are the most important three points of our season after the run that we’ve been on.
"We were brilliant defensively, which is something we’ve been working on all week.
"Defending is an 11-man job and Johnny Marquis was certainly our first defender. I thought we did a really good job in that area.
"Once we scored in the second half it gave us the confidence that we needed. Sometimes that happens when you’ve been in the place that we’ve been in.
"The last time out at Fratton Park (Ipswich) we know we let people down and when you let the people down that are close to you then that’s hard.
"We have rightly taken a lot of criticism and that does affect confidence. Confidence is a fragile commodity, as we know, but certainly after we scored we looked a much more confident team.
"We actually played well in the second half against a very good Bolton team and probably should have made it easier for ourselves by finding a second goal.
‘"You have to be careful because sometimes you come off and just judge a game on what we do from an attacking perspective.
"But defensively we did really well against a good Bolton team. They had some shots from distance, but hardly any in our area."
