Wallace: We owe you

Wallace was left embarrassed by his team’s display as they were thumped 4-2 at Bootham Crescent on Saturday.

That scoreline flattered Guy Whittingham’s side who were atrocious and found horribly wanting for commitment and endeavour.

Wallace was the single player who could hold his head high as he served up a goal-of-the-season contender and grafted throughout.

But the 19-year-old took little solace in his 50-yard run and finish in the second half.

He is looking for his team to put the result behind them – but is acutely aware his team are in debt to their supporters.

Wallace said: ‘As clichéd as it is, we lose as a team and win as team.

‘We shouldn’t forget about it because we pride ourselves on our performance. I don’t take it lightly.

‘But there’s no point slagging each other off all week.

‘We have to be more positive as there’s a long season ahead still. I am gutted. We all are. I guess we have to try to stay as positive as we can, though.

‘We owe the fans massively. They will turn up in their thousands again on Saturday – and it’s up to us to produce.

‘We have to write York off. I’ll come in this week, train hard, run and work hard and then you never know where the week will take you.

‘We have be winning games. We are drawing games we should be winning and losing games we should be drawing but we have to put this right.’

Wallace was restored to the starting 11 after missing out in the defeat against Fleetwood.

He is gunning for an extended run in the team now after again impressing but knows that may not be straightforward.

Wallace said: ‘I want to play every single minute of every single game – I feel I’m good enough to do that.

‘The gaffer went the way he did last week and I understand the way he wants to go.

‘But, from a selfish view, I want to play all the time and do everything I can to contribute to the team and score goals.

‘I hope I can cement my place in the side. I’ve played 36 games now and only two of them have been from the bench.

‘I’m used to playing and want to keep that but, at the same time, I have to carry on pushing on.

‘I can’t sit back and let games pass me by. I feel I’m in the right form at the moment.

‘I’m playing well but maybe staying in the 11 is going to be more difficult this year than people thought it would be for me.’

Saturday’s defeat leaves Pompey in 17th place in League Two – four points from the drop zone and seven from the play-offs.

Wallace is not placing any stock in league positions at present.

He said: ‘I won’t look at the table until Christmas.

‘We need to be taking points, though. We’re aware of that.

‘There’s no panic. We’ve lost one game away and games at home when players have been sent off but I honestly feel we can get it together.

‘We’ve played the top teams but we can’t take the run coming up lightly.

‘York scraped home on the final day last season and absolutely battered us. It’s dog eat dog.’