Boss Paul Jewell felt that if the Blues’ game against Portsmouth had been a boxing match the referee would have stopped it at half-time. Town dominated the first half but failed to take their chances and Pompey grabbed the three points in the second half via goals from David Nugent and David Cotterill.

Jewell said: “If it was a boxing match they’d have called it off at half-time. That’s why this game drives you crazy because it’s all about sticking the ball in the net.

“Today, more than any other game that I’ve been here, we created lots of opportunities. We’ve had good situations before, but the opportunities we created were really good today.

“When you go in 0-0 at half-time when you should be three or four up - and even at the start of the second half we should have gone 1-0 up - you start to wonder whether it’s going to be your day. And the manner of the goals we conceded was doubly disappointing.”

The Town manager thought there were similarities with Tuesday’s loss at Loftus Road: “It was like the QPR game because I felt we were on top, but at QPR we had a lot of opportunities to make chances but today we made actual chances, and not just half-chances, gilt-edged chances.

“You can blame luck, you can blame whatever you want, but you’ve got to make your own luck over the season.”

Despite the defeat, Jewell was delighted with the quality his side showed: “Every credit to the players, some of the football we played will be as good as anyone has played this season.

“Some of the stuff we’ve played in the last three games over the last week gives me great heart for the future, but I know that we’ve got to improve and become mentally tougher. The worst result we should have got today was a 0-0.

“The way we cut them open at times was a joy to watch and we were thinking that if we got one it could be any score. But in any game, if you don’t take your chances, if you’ve got someone on the ropes and they swing a wild left hook and it knocks you out, you lose the fight.”

Overall, the Blues boss believes his side are moving in the right direction: “I feel we’re making progress, but we’ve still got a fair way to go before we’re where we want to be.”

Portsmouth manager Steve Cotterill was delighted that his side battled to victory: “It was a tough game, we had to hang in there in the first half, they were red hot in the first half and we were pleased to get to half-time at 0-0.

“In the second half I thought we were better and we had more of a cutting edge and that probably proved to be the difference in the game in the end.

“Our finishing was really good. The two goals we scored today were excellent today. David Nugent, or David Nuisance, is a really good lad. Sometimes he thinks he can’t play on that left, but he’s very, very effective off that left flank.

“I think if you look at it he’s scored more goals coming in off that left than he has playing as a centre-forward.

“It was a good, solid team performance today, I thought they absolutely ran their socks off on a tough day with the pitch getting quite heavy towards the end and difficult for both sets of players.”

Story syndicated from TWTD.co.uk

Photo: Action Images

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