‘Ultimately the difference’: Segečić chance, wasted Portsmouth openings and small margins at Charlton Athletic
Adrian Segečić had openings at Charlton Athletic as Pompey couldn’t deliver victory, but John Mousinho saw positives amid a second Championship clean sheet.
John Mousinho rued the missed chances and failure to make more of openings as spoils were shared at Charlton Athletic.
But the Pompey boss reserved praise for his ‘impressive’ back line, as they collected their second successive shutout in the 0-0 draw at The Valley.
Mousinho: ‘Those are the moments which are ultimately the difference’
Pompey made it four points from two games, as they produced a performance which saw them improve and create second-half chances against Nathan Jones’ side.
Abu Kamara and Colby Bishop had two of the best opportunities, while Adrian Segečić was denied by an Oliver Skipp tackle as he went through on goal after the break.
Segečić then had the best sight of goal as Pompey gained momentum after the break, but fired tamely at keeper Arthur Okonkwo.
That was a frustration for Mousinho, along with not making more of promising situations before the interval.
The Pompey boss said of Segečić‘s chance: ‘Those are the moments which are ultimately the difference in the game.
‘We put the chances in the back of the net last week, but we didn’t do it this week.
‘But it’s a clean sheet at a tough place, so we take that.
‘At the top end of the pitch we have quality and we have goals there.
‘It was a bit of a frustration that we’d got into some good spots, but not tested the keeper in the first half.
‘We thought as the game opened up we’d get more joy, particularly with Charlton playing Wednesday night, and we did.
‘We got into some good areas and we created some good chances, but we also got into some good areas where we weren’t quite positive enough.
‘There are some good signs, but we need to keep improving.’
One of the big plus points in a Pompey display which was received well by the 3,000-plus travelling fans was the display of the back four - particularly Benjy Arthur and Conor Shaughnessy in the middle of the back line.
Charlton offered pace and strength going forward, but were increasingly repelled by the duo as the afternoon wore on.
Mousinho added: ‘I thought Benjy and Shaughs were pretty impressive against that front line.
‘I thought our back four and back five were pretty good in general.
‘In Leaburn, Alli, Grant and Campbell they were up against four very quick, skilful and powerful players at the top end of the pitch.
‘They dealt with that very, very well.
‘I felt they restricted Charlton in the second half, I can’t really remember them creating too much.’