Relegation rivals the real winners as Portmouth draw at Blackburn - Don Goodman

There was clear and obvious disappointment for everyone connected with Portsmouth on Saturday as John Mousinho’s side arguably dropped two points in their visit to fellow Championship strugglers Blackburn Rovers.

Pompey had a golden opportunity to to extend their advantage on the clubs in the relegation zone to as many as seven points with a win at Ewood Park - and they looked as if they were on their way to doing exactly that when they finally broke the deadlock with just five minutes remaining as Connor Ogilvie found the net.

The impressive band of travelling support were all but ready to celebrate what could have been a monumental three points before making the long trip home as injury-time was reached - but those celebrations were ended when Hayden Carter headed home in the third minute of added-on time to ensure the spoils were shared.

Sky Sports pundit Don Goodman believes the real winners were the other struggling sides at the wrong end of the Championship table and stressed neither Blackburn or Pompey will be satisfied with the win.

He told Sky Sports: “It’s a huge opportunity missed. I guess as the away team, a point may be seen as better for Portsmouth - but it’s a game that neither team really deserved to win and I actually think it’s a better result for the likes of Oxford, West Brom, Leicester and Charlton than it is for these two teams. There was a real opportunity here and, for me, they’ve both missed it.”

What did John Mousinho say about Portsmouth’s draw at Blackburn Rovers?

Speaking after the draw, the Pompey boss told The News: “Ultimately, it was going to be defined by the last 10 minutes. We had 85 minutes of controlling the game, it was very even, we had much more possession. Blackburn had a really good chance early on, but, apart from that, it was pretty cagey - then we’ve given ourselves the opportunity to win the game. But, after we scored the goal, we completely threw it away. We stopped winning headers, stopped winning challenges, stopped winning second balls, let them back inside for the goal, dropped too deep, committed too many bodies forward at times.

“We didn’t do any of the things we did so well for that 85 minutes. ‘There's obviously that mentally switch when you go a goal ahead and I can accept us sitting deep. Then we have to dominate underneath the ball, we have to win our challenges, you’ve got to come out with the second balls. We managed the game horrifically, we managed it so, so poorly and, ultimately, we got what we deserved - which was Blackburn equalising in really poor fashion.”

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