Danny Cowley not getting carried away despite another Portsmouth win

Posted Sunday, March 28, 2021 by PA

Danny Cowley is delighted to be back in the dugout and winning matches, but the new Portsmouth boss is not looking at the League One table despite seeing his side climb into the play-off spots with a 2-1 victory at Shrewsbury.

Marcus Harness and John Marquis put Pompey 2-0 up in Shropshire before Nathaniel Ogbeta pulled one back for the hosts.

Marquis received a straight red card for a tackle on Harry Chapman, but Pompey held out to make it two wins in two since Cowley took charge.

Cowley said: “It’s great to win. We’ve had two tight wins now and that’s six points so from an outcome perspective it has been good.

“For me, and this may sound boring, it’s about the process and getting the performance right because if you do that then the results take care of themselves.

“If we play like we did today then we will go well. The first-half performance was at a good level, we were dominant, but credit to Shrewsbury they changed their shape and we don’t have the answers for that yet, as we’ve still got work to do.

“It’s great to be back, it’s a lovely feeling when you wake up on a Saturday for a game.

“It is nice when you’ve been starved of something you loved. I managed for 13 and a half seasons until the end of last season, so it’s good to be back.

“I’m not paying attention to the play-off positions, I don’t even know today’s results to be honest. I’ll have a look when we get to the last couple of games.”

Shrewsbury could not take advantage of their extra man in the final 20 minutes.

First-team coach David Longwell said: “Frustration and disappointment are the overall feelings. I think the fact we got back into the game in the second half and they didn’t do enough to get another goal is frustrating.

“We have to compliment them on the way they went about it in the first half, they’ve got good players and new managers.

“We just didn’t do what we wanted in fairness. The two goals we could have defended better. We came back from that and to be honest the man getting sent off didn’t really help us at all.

“I felt we were on top until the sending-off, and that allowed them to put two banks of four in and then it’s hard to break them down and create chances.

“The switch we made at half-time changed things, we went 4-3-3 and had momentum but we just couldn’t get that second.

“It was great for Nathaniel to get his first league goal. He was frustrated with his performance but he’s been doing the right things and it’ll help him kick on now.”