Whittingham praise for Bird

Guy Whittingham hailed Ryan Bird after his two-goal salvo helped Portsmouth see off Exeter 3-2 in a five-goal thriller.

Bird grabbed a late equaliser in last weekend's 1-1 draw at Torquay - the first professional goal of his career. And the former non-league hot shot took his tally to three goals in two games at Fratton Park as Pompey overcame a late Exeter fightback to claim the points. Whittingham said: "I was delighted for Ryan Bird. I know he has goals in him. "I know from personal experience what it's like to come from non-league. He showed he's a confident player." Bird and Patrick Agyemang both went close in the early exchanges as Pompey started the game well well in front of a bumper crowd of more than 16,000. Exeter almost took the lead after 22 minutes as a Matt Grimes shot from 20 yards rattled the crossbar. Pompey opened the scoring in fortuitous fashion moments before half-time when Ricky Holmes' attempted cross floated into the net. Bird doubled the lead four minutes after the restart, planting defender Yassin Moutaouakill's centre into the bottom corner. In-form Bird looked to have put the game out of Exeter's reach by nodding his second and Pompey's third after 71 minutes. Danny Coles reduced the deficit with a header of his own from an Arron Davies cross four minutes later before John O'Flynn set up a nervy finish when he stabbed home the visitors' second five minutes from time. Exeter would have snatched an unlikely point but for a brilliant save from Pompey goalkeeper Trevor Carson to deny Tom Nichols in the 88th minute. Whittingham added: "At 3-0 we were in control but we knew they had it in them to cause us problems. "When they pulled a goal back they had the momentum and they chucked players into the box as they had nothing to lose. I would have told our players to do exactly the same thing. "With the ball coming in and a swirling wind something had to give but thankfully we had enough goals in the bank."