Newcomers bring promise of brighter times for Hart

Paul Hart has praised the impact of his summer signings after three of them scored their first goals for Portsmouth to secure a 3-1 victory at Carlisle in the Carling Cup on Tuesday night. Aruna Dindane, Danny Webber and Anthony Vanden Borre were all on target for Pompey as they came from behind to wrap up the win at Brunton Park.

Dindane in particular caught the eye, slotting home the equaliser after Ian Harte had given the hosts an early lead, and setting up Vanden Borre in the second half to make it 3-1.

It was the Ivory Coast striker's first appearance since joining the club from Lens and Hart said he was hoping to get the player fully fit so he could boost Pompey's ailing Premier League campaign, which moves on to a home fixture against Everton on Saturday off the back of six straight defeats. Hart said: "He did very well. I had to give him a couple of weeks' fitness work when he joined us. I took him out of training to do that and he's worked tremendously hard. He's still got to get match fit, but I was delighted with his contribution. He's only had one game in two months though so it's a bit early to say whether he will make the squad for Saturday."

Hart was forced to make changes for the cup tie to a Portsmouth side already struggling to gel after undergoing huge reconstruction. But the manager was pleased to give new players like Webber – who played 86 minutes on his first start – a chance to get some game time under their belts.

"It does them good to play football," Hart said. "It's very difficult to get your squad players games and everybody will be feeling slightly better about themselves at the moment after participating in a win."