'One of the maddest games I've been involved in': Portsmouth boss stunned after crazy Sheffield United win

John Mousinho reflected on an emotional roller-coaster against Sheffield United and declared: It’s one of the maddest games I’ve been involved in.

The Blues found themselves 2-0 against the 10-men Blades following goals from Zak Swanson and Adrian Segecic and looking capable of plenty more.

However, the visitors, despite their numerical disadvantage, hit back with two goals in eight minutes to level through Japhet Tanganga and Tom Cannon, much to the Fratton faithful’s astonishment.

Yet it was substitute Ebou Adams who came to the Blues’ rescue, with an 89th-minute winner from Segecic’s right-wing cross.

And afterwards, Mousinho admitted it had been a crazy match.

‘We had the highs and the lows’

He told The News: ‘That was one of the maddest games I have been involved in.

‘There was pretty much everything in the game, we had the highs and the lows. We’ve come out winning, that’s the most important thing.

‘The emotion is still a mixture now, but if you had offered me the win before the game I obviously would have taken it.

‘It had everything. I don’t know what to make of it, I couldn’t believe what was going on at 2-2. I just thought “Come on lads, we are so much better than this”.

‘Take Swanny’s goal, there’s not a huge amount you can do about the goal itself. If United do that to us, okay, fine. If they tear us apart with a brilliant bit of skill, you live with it. We just gifted them far too many opportunities.

‘Against 10-men, we scored some goals, so that was good, but we didn’t have as much control.

‘On Sunday, there was Leo Scienza’s chance early on, but then we controlled the game, we didn’t create enough.

‘Tonight we created enough, but didn’t control the game. I don’t think we need to sacrifice that defensive solidity to create more in the back line.

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‘It was more about decisions, not just committing a load of bodies forward. We make better decisions when we get the ball to Ryan, because he’s playing really well on the night.’

After Sunday’s agony at Southampton, when Mousinho’s men had fallen to defeat against 10-men, it appeared they were again going to be frustrated.

Yet the Blues’ head coach believes they played differently on that occasion, looking far more threatening going forward - although vulnerable at the back.

‘That’s where we have to be a lot better’

He added: ‘My big frustration is where the two goals come from. The first we have comfortable possession and end up trying to shoot from 30-35 yards, Cooper ends up playing it long.

‘They had brought Mark McGuinness on, Tom Cannon is a willing runner and we didn’t deal with that first or second phase from the long ball - and the ball ended up in the back of the net.

‘It’s very similar for the second one, it comes from a goal kick, we don’t win the first header, we don’t win the second header, the ball goes in behind and we concede from a corner.

‘We will look at the way we concede the goals, but also the build up, that’s where we have to be a lot better.’