Vi spændte ben for os selv.
Colby Bishop blev både helt og skurk da han scorede men også brændte et straffespark mod Port Vale. Da kampen endte 2-2 blev det et potentielt dyrt pointtab og en ikke-udnyttet mulighed for at reducere afstanden til top seks til fire points. Nu er den i stedet på seks. I tillæg måtte Paddy Lane gå fra banen med noget der lignede en forstrækning og dermed et par uger på sidelinjen.
Startpladsen til Owen Dale var den eneste ændring i lørdagens startellever fra sidste lørdags sejr hos Bristol Rovers. Han er erstattede Joe Morrell, der er udtaget til Wales’ landsholdstrup.
Den officielle kamprapport
Eftertanken
To defensive blundere, der bare ikke må ske på dette niveau, blev straffet i en første halvleg, hvor vi aldrig nåede det niveau som vi har set i de seneste kampe under Mousinho. Det brændte straffespark opsummerede perfekt de miserable første 45 minutter. Det er i og for sig skuffende og opvejer ikke helt det comeback som vi var vidner til efter pausen, og som trods alt gav os det ene points. De to tabte kan nemlig godt vise sig at blive dem vi mangler i sidste ende. At gå fra 0-2 til 2-2 understreger dog også, at der er fight i truppen, hvilket som bekendt til sidst var en mangelvare under Cowley-brødrene. At Mousinho selv var en fightertype på banen, og nu har fået installeret samme vilje i truppen lover til gengæld godt fremover. Små udfald som det vi så mod Port Vale er svære at eliminere fuldstændigt, og viser bare, at selv i League One koster det hvis du ikke er 100 % til stede i kampen. Nu er der ikke andet tilbage end at springe op på hesten igen og sørge for, at den halve off-day ikke gentager sig.
Et hurtigt liga-overblik
Grundet udtagelser til diverse landshold var der ikke fuldt program i League One denne weekend, men der blev afviklet en lille håndfuld kampe. Tager vi det for os værste resultat først så rykkede Peterborough to points væk fra os ved at slå Derby County, der til gengæld er ved at være nede i et formdyk. Til gengæld smed også Wycombe points ved at dele i porten med Charlton. I bunden vandt MK Dons en seks-points kamp ved at besejre udebanesvage Morecambe med 1-0. Samtidig røg Accrington ind i en stor øretæve og tabte med hele 0-5 hos Exeter City. Senere i dag, søndag, tager Forest Green Rovers imod Sheffield Wednesday, der med en sejr kan generobre førerpositionen fra Plymouth.
Kommentarer fra head coach John Mousinho
“We would have taken the point at the break, but certainly not beforehand as we wanted to come out and win it. There’s a huge amount to unpack and it was just a hugely disappointing opening 45 minutes from every perspective. Pretty much everything that could have gone wrong, did go wrong – and a lot of that was of our own doing. We weren’t aggressive enough and allowed Ellis Harrison and Taylor too much space, which led to the first goal. When you make errors and let a good side get into the contest, it can be very difficult to turn things around. Missing the penalty just before half-time meant we didn’t really have any momentum after the restart. So credit to the lads for coming out and fighting back to level the game – we knew that just one goal could shift the mentality. But we couldn’t quite capitalise on that and then seemed to drop 10 yards, not having that ruthless mentality to win it. If Reeco’s shot at the end had gone in then I think we would have deserved that on our second half performance, but probably not on the first.”
Et par ord fra Michael Jacobs
“It was one of those games that had a bit of everything and it could have gone either way. I think it was probably a fair result if you look across the full 90 minutes and we probably would have taken a point after the first half. We didn’t quite get to the levels we’ve seen over the past few weeks and their front two caused us problems. It felt like everything went wrong that could have gone wrong, but the way we reacted showed the character we’ve got. And with the chances we had towards the end, then it was also a little bit frustrating to only come away with the draw. ’d missed the chance before I scored and Reeco had a great one right at the death, but unfortunately the winner just didn’t materialise.”
“We’re in a position when we need to win a large majority of our games in order to close the gap and gatecrash the top six. While it’s possible for us to get there, we have to keep believing that it’s still alive, so it’s just on to next week.”
League One, Fratton Park, 25. marts 2023
Portsmouth – Port Vale 2-2 (0-2)
08. minut: 0-1 Matty Taylor
39. minut: 0-2 Funso Ojo
67. minut: 1-2 Colby Bishop (straffespark)
70. minut: 2-2 Michael Jacobs
Opstillingen (4-2-3-1): Macey; Rafferty, Raggett (anfører), Towler (Robertson ‘46), Ogilvie; Tunnicliffe, Thompson (Lowery ‘55); Lane (Jacobs ‘35), Dale, Hackett; Bishop
På bænken: Oluwayemi, Bernard, Hume, Mottoh, Jacobs, Robertson og Lowery
Advarsler: Ingen
Udvisning: Ingen
Tilskuere: 18.046, hvoraf 795 var medrejsende Port Vale supportere
Interview efter kampen med John Mousinho
Kampens Højdepunkter
