Danny Cowley demands more winning nights after Portsmouth defeat Oxford

Posted Wednesday, March 02, 2022 by PA

Portsmouth manager Danny Cowley was delighted with his side’s comeback 3-2 win at home to Oxford.

Hayden Carter scored his first Pompey goal as the south coast side put a dent in the visitors’ promotion hopes.

Cowley said: “I thought we were excellent and am very pleased for the players, staff, and of course the supporters, who were incredible tonight.

“I hope these sorts of nights are the first of many.

“It was a difficult start, conceding so early, but we showed the character and resilience to fight back.

“We made a tactical change after about 25 minutes, to get two up front.

“The conditions were difficult and challenging for defenders, so we felt that two up front would stretch out their back three.

“I thought George Hirst was excellent and unplayable, and we scored three very good goals from Sean (Raggett), George, and Hayden.

“We could have made it four to relieve the pressure, but we defended in a disciplined way against a very good Oxford side.

“It was an excellent atmosphere throughout, and if I’ve experienced one better, I really can’t recall it.”

In a hard-fought victory for Pompey, it was Oxford who took a third-minute lead.

A break down the Pompey right saw Marcus Browne cruise past Sean Raggett and fire an angled shot into the far corner.

It took until the 42nd minute for Pompey to equalize. Denver Hume’s cross went across the box to Jo Morrell, whose pinpoint return found the head of Raggett to nod into the top corner.

Two minutes into first-half stoppage time, Pompey took the lead.

Marcus Harness raced in behind the Oxford defence to find George Hirst, who ran on to drive the ball home.

The hosts doubled their lead 13 minutes into the second half when a headed clearance from the Oxford defence saw the ball fall to Blackburn loanee Carter, who lashed home from 25 yards.

Oxford grabbed a second nine minutes from time through Luke McNally but it was not enough to salvage a point.

U’s boss Karl Robinson said: “I thought we were good for the first 40 minutes. We kept them at bay.

“Then they scored a fantastic header. They’re playing to the Fratton End and, at that point, you’re looking to see out the rest of the half. But a bad touch gives them the second. The third was a brilliant strike.

“You wouldn’t be looking to close down a centre-half from near on 30 yards out.

“The way teams celebrate a win against us shows where we are at as a club. I’m proud of them, they know that. We’ve been away for the last four Tuesday nights, and we’ve still maintained our top-six position.

“We’ve got 10 games to go, and we are really looking forward to it. We’ve had five big players out tonight, and still put on a good show. Looking at them in the dressing room, you can see they all care.”