Portsmouth boss Danny Cowley rues lack of ‘ruthless’ streak as Wigan snatch win
Posted Sunday, August 29, 2021 by PA
Danny Cowley admitted his Portsmouth side paid a high price for their lack of cutting edge as they fell to a 1-0 defeat at Wigan.
Pompey gave as good as they got for the majority of an entertaining encounter short on goal-scoring chances.
But, while Ronan Curtis saw one effort saved by Ben Amos and sent another header over the top, Callum Lang buried the one chance that came his way 12 minutes from time.
“We’re disappointed to lose because I felt we had good control of the game for 60 minutes,” said Cowley.
“The first half was probably the best we’ve played.
“To come to a club like Wigan who’ve got new owners and have recruited really aggressively and play like that was pleasing.
“You only have to look at their bench to realise what depth they’ve got in their squad.
“I felt we had good control and rhythm to our play and cut through them constantly.
“We’re just disappointed we lack a cutting edge in the final third.
“We weren’t ruthless in front of goal.”
In the first half, Wigan had a big shout for a penalty turned down after Jordan Jones was sent tumbling in the Pompey box before Curtis tested Amos.
The home side started the second period in sloppy fashion, with the visitors twice being invited to drive towards the Wigan area and threaten the goal.
However, they were stopped in their tracks by two perfectly-executed sliding challenges from Tom Naylor and Jack Whatmough, who both left Fratton Park in the summer.
Curtis squandered another chance when he headed over from a good position.
And Wigan made him pay when substitute James McClean fed Tom Pearce, whose deep cross was controlled and then fired home by Lang.
“They were tough,” acknowledged Wigan boss Leam Richardson.
“They’ve got some good players and they are a fantastic football club.
“I’ve been fortunate enough to experience it down in Portsmouth and they are carrying a healthy squad.
“They are expecting to get out of the league, and they’ve probably been in it too long, but I thought it was up to us to impose ourselves a little bit more.
“I thought we were on our heels a little bit and our distances through the centre of the pitch weren’t what they should or could have been.
“And I felt that we didn’t really have contact around the pitch, so we spoke about that at half-time.
“Normally when you tick a few boxes, you normally land on the right side of the result.
“We’re still making small steps and we’re absolutely made up with the start that we’ve had.”
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