Sylvain Distin is delighted for Portsmouth teammate David Nugent over the way he has battled back into the first team.

He told The News: "I was proud of him when he scored that first goal and now he keeps doing well. He deserves it.

"Nuge has been working so hard. He's had a lot of stick and people talking about him but he's kept at it and now he's got the reward for his hard work so good for him.

"He wasn't even that bad last season, it was just his finishing.

"They say for a striker if you don't have confidence it's difficult to score and the only problem he was having was just his finishing. Sometimes it's just the confidence and right now he's got the confidence back and a few of us need to do that as well.

"When you work hard you get the rewards sooner or later, that's what he's getting now. He's been working on it the whole season and, no matter what people said, he's just carried on and I am really happy for him. It's good to see.

"He's been working hard and I think that's great. For me, he deserves it."