Danny Cowley likes Pompey’s ‘determination and resilience’ in win over Lincoln

Posted Saturday, April 16, 2022 by PA

Portsmouth boss Danny Cowley hailed his side’s dramatic 3-2 win over former club Lincoln as ‘brilliant.’

Ronan Curtis came off the bench to snatch the Sky Bet League One points after Lincoln had fought back from 2-0 down to 2-2.

Cowley said after the Fratton Park success: “It was a brilliant win for us, even though we weren’t at our best.

“We’d expended a great deal of energy on Tuesday against Rotherham, but we showed a lot of determination and resilience.

“We had a good way into the game with good control and unfortunately had to make an early substitution, and we seemed to lose our way a bit towards the end of the half.

“We had to change things tactically at half time, and I thought we came out with more purpose, playing more up the pitch and in their half.

“Then we go two up with the penalty and a superb free kick from Michael Jacobs.

“We didn’t make things easy for ourselves and let them back to two-all. We knew the last 20 minutes would be hard after the schedule we’ve had, and the way we then went on to win it was impressive.”

Pompey took the lead from the penalty spot two minutes into the second half when Liam Cullen caught Jacobs and Hirst drove the spot-kick low into the net.

It looked all over on 68 minutes when Jacobs curled a 25-yard free-kick into the far corner.

Lincoln pulled a goal back two minutes later, when Ted Bishop curled beyond Gavin Bazunu.

The visitors looked to have stolen an unlikely point 12 minutes from time as Jamie Robson’s cross was bundled over the line by substitute Ben House.

But Pompey won it eight minutes from time after Sean Raggett’s shot saw Jordan Wright fumble the ball into the path of Curtis, who rolled it into an empty net.

Lincoln manager Michael Appleton said: “It is a disappointing result, obviously, especially having come back from two down.

“Their goals were a bit of a kick in the teeth the way they came about. Michael Jacobs’ goal was outstanding and the third goal somewhat summed up our season in a small moment.

“I thought we were good in the transition and caused them all sorts of problems and the fact that their goalkeeper got man of the match says everything.

“We’ve had a good spell. At Wigan, the official didn’t help us, and was probably a big part of our downfall.

“Today, I fully expected them to stick at it and keep going for it.

“There were opportunities for us throughout the game, and we did well to come back to two-all – but for it to not quite happen again was frustrating.

“We’re not safe yet but we just need to maintain the level we played at today.”