John Mousinho says Portsmouth ‘thoroughly deserved’ late win over Wycombe

Posted Wednesday, October 04, 2023 by PA

Portsmouth manager John Mousinho was thrilled after Conor Shaughnessy’s late heroics handed his table-toppers a 2-1 victory over Wycombe.

Centre-back Shaughnessy bagged his first Pompey goal in the 98th minute when he connected with Jack Sparkes’ corner to send Fratton Park wild.

Pompey had gone behind to Wycombe captain Josh Scowen’s near post-flick from Luke Leahy’s in-swinging corner in the 22nd minute but responded after 58 minutes when Abu Kamara’s low cross was stabbed in by Colby Bishop, who netted his sixth goal of the season.

Mousinho said: “It feels amazing to be honest. To have the reaction to scoring the goal in front of the Fratton End; the whole stadium went up.

“I thought we thoroughly deserved the win. We obviously left it very late, and I only allowed myself a few seconds to celebrate because I knew I had to get Sean Raggett on straight away”

“I thought our chance had gone when Colby missed a chance at the far post.

“My emotions wouldn’t have been quite as happy if we hadn’t scored that late goal but I would have been as happy with the performance and how we went about things. Overall I’m pleased with tonight.

“We stood up to the physical test really well. Wycombe are really good at what they do. They have a Premier League centre forward and have plenty of Championship calibre behind it.

“We went a goal behind and it is difficult from there. Wycombe sat in and made it difficult. We stuck at it under difficult circumstances and were absolutely superb.”

Pompey recorded their 22nd game unbeaten in Sky Bet League One to stay top.

Wycombe boss Matt Bloomfield complained Shaughessy’s winner had come after a foul on his goalkeeper Max Stryjek.

He said: “I am very angry and frustrated, and also sorry for the supporters who made the journey on a Tuesday night.

“It was a blatant foul on the goalkeeper for their second. Their player jumps into him and prevents him from catching the ball and flattens him.

“I was very proud of the lads tonight and thought we carried a threat even in the second half. We deserved something from the game.

“Decisions against us are becoming a regular occurrence.

“It is so disappointing that the lads work extremely hard and decisions like that cost us getting something out of the game. That’s the second game in a row we have been hard done by.

“We were really looking forward to this game, so disappointed to come away with nothing.

“We obviously have to pick ourselves up from this. We go to Fleetwood on Saturday, and we need to start getting points.”