‘Well done to Portsmouth’: Blackburn Rovers boss’ verdict after airing Fratton frustration
The Blackburn Rovers boss delivers an honest and pretty balanced assessment of his side’s Championshi trip to Fratton Park.
Tony Mowbray felt his Blackburn Rovers showed Pompey too much respect as he gave plaudits to John Mousinho’s men.
Mowbray aired his frustration at his side not seeing out the game, as it finished 2-2 at Fratton Park in the final Championship clash before the international break.
Mowbray: ‘Never an easy place to come to, with the atmosphere that the supporters create’
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The former West Brom and Middlesbrough boss acknowledged the challenge of playing at PO4, as he gave the Blues credit for affecting his team’s level of performance.
Mowbray told the Lancashire Telegraph: ‘We'll put the point in the bag and move on to the next game.
‘A bit of frustration around it, really, to get ourselves in front. We should have been able to see that game out, to be honest, but unfortunately we didn't.
‘Honestly, we're a bit patchy at the moment. At our best and our moments, we look like a really good football team, and yet I felt we probably showed them too much respect today, allowed them to build into our attacking third too easily.
‘I haven't seen any data of the game but a little bit inconsistent, I think. Disappointed, frustrated, but it's a point away.
‘I feel we have to get better. It wasn't a top performance from us, slightly below par, I think.
‘We have to have better control. You've talked about Portsmouth. I feel we should be coming here and controlling a huge part of this game and get to a point where we believe that we're going to win.
‘We should win and we are disappointed, but more frustrated today that we couldn't get to the performance level.
‘I think we were below par today and that's probably down to them, but I think we should have managed the game better. Yeah, well done to Portsmouth. As I say, we're a bit frustrated.’
Goals from Oladapo Afolayan and Ryoya Morishita makes it nine finishes in four games for Blackburn, with Mowbray content with his side’s firepower.
He added: ‘They all know that all of the lads who play along the front line have got goals and assists for me and if they don't get them, they won't be played for the people.
‘I'd have to say (Jayden) Fevrier's really unlucky not to have played more minutes because every time he comes on the pitch, he seems to threaten the opposition goal.
‘So, yeah, we're doing okay in scoring goals. We have to stop the stupid goals we're letting in.
‘We started the game pretty well, didn't we? I don't think they touched the ball. We had a shot, we came and made a save down here and then the first time they got round the box, the corner got headed out, the cross got headed out and they volleyed it straight in.
‘So, after what was a difficult start for us, we clawed our way back into a winning position with 30 minutes to go, was it?
‘We are understandably frustrated not to have taken three points.’