As Portsmouth attempt to make a late push to sneak into the playoff places in League One, boss John Mousinho believes failing to secure three points in their 1-1 draw with Shrewsbury Town this weekend may come back to haunt them.Â
With fellow challengers Peterborough and Derby dropping points on Saturday, Pompey had a great opportunity to gain on the playoff places when they travelled to a Shrewsbury side that had lost six consecutive games.
However, after an uneventful first half the Shrews took the lead early after the break, but saw their lead equalised thanks to a Marlon Pack goal late on.
Unfortunately, despite the home side falling to 10 men for the final four minutes, Portsmouth were unable to capitalise on the man advantage with the game ending in a 1-1 stalemate.
The result leaves the Blues on an impressive seven games unbeaten run, however, only two wins have come during that time. So despite picking up solid points, not getting wins is a prime reason why Mousinho believes his side will “rue” this result.
Currently sitting in 9th place, Pompey faces an uphill battle if they are to extend their season to the playoffs. With time slowing running out and just four games remaining in the season, Portsmouth will have an opportunity to make up lost ground, with two ‘six-pointer’ games remaining when they take on Derby and Wycombe.
Following the draw, the boss spoke with The News and had some honest words to say.
Mousinho said: “I was pleased with the energy, effort and endeavour towards the end, but the performance wasn’t good enough. We have to look at ourselves and make sure we’re better consistently
“I think we will come away and rue this result in the final standings. The standards weren’t up to what we’ve shown at times in the two-and-a-half months since I’ve been here.
“When you look at the games where we’ve dominated and scored goals it’s been because we’ve been brave in possession, created chances and been brave in the final third. Today we didn’t do that.
“We didn’t threaten the Shrewsbury goal enough to say we deserved to win.”
Writer’s View
The boss is right in saying this is a missed opportunity when you factor in the opponent’s run of form and teams around them dropping points, however all is not lost yet.
Despite there being five teams fighting for the final two playoff places, and Pompey being the furthest away out of that bunch, the fact they end the season facing Derby and Wycombe could have huge swings in terms of the final positions.
While they may not be winning games, they are playing well and if the team can show up for the final two games of the season, Portsmouth may find themselves in a position to return to the Championship.
